Shani skates to another victory

Two days after setting a meet record in Berlin, American speed skater Shani Davis returned to the rink on Sunday and left with another gold medal.

Davis, who could make a run at Eric Heiden's Winter Olympic record of five gold medals at the upcoming Vancouver Games, won the 1,500m title in 1 minute, 44.47 seconds on the third and final day of action at the Essent ISU World Cup stop in Berlin. He was over a second faster than silver-medalist Havard Bokko of Norway, who clocked in at 1:45.56. Canadian Denny Morrison was third with a time of 1:45.69.

Americans Chad Hedrick and Trevor Marsicano finished 10th and 17th, respectively.

Davis ended the meet with two victories; he won the 1,000m race on Friday.

In other action, U.S. skater Tucker Fredricks captured victory in the 500m final. His time of 35.06 was just ahead of Lee Kang-Seok and Lee Kyou-Hyuk, who both finished in 35.10. The former was awarded the silver medal.

Fredricks' victory put him in third place in the overall 500m World Cup standings.

For the women, Germany's Jenny Wolf triumphed in the 500m event after stopping the clock in 37.52. China's Wang Beixing (37.94) was second and the Netherlands' Annette Gerritsen (38.27) placed third.

Canadian Christine Nesbitt surged to victory in the 1,500m with a time of 1:55.54, nearly 1.5 seconds faster than the Czech Republic's Martina Sablikova (1:56.99). Brittany Schussler of Canada was third in 1:57.26.

The second meet on the World Cup circuit takes place in Heerenveen, Netherlands, Nov. 13-15.