14 December 2014 – Heerenveen, THE NETHERLANDS
Another race, another milestone for Shani Davis.
With a much-needed podium finish at the final race of the fall World Cup series, Shani became only the second man to eclipse 12,000 career World Cup points.
Missing out on the top three at the circuit’s first three stops, Shani earned a bronze medal at 1500m, clocking 1:46.33, just .11 out of second. And with the 70 World Cup points Davis now stands at 12,040 over his remarkable career, trailing only Jeremy Wotherspoon, who accumulated 13,009 points from 1996-2010.
“I’m getting a little better each race,” said Shani afterwards. “I’m not where I want to be yet, not where I know I can be, but there’s still a lot of racing left this season.”
Davis moved up to 5th in the 1500m WC season standings, less than 50 points from the lead.
In just his 10th year on the WC circuit – five fewer than Wotherspoon – Shani’s 18 career 1500m victories tie him with Norwegian Adne Soendral for most all time. Davis is already history’s most victorious 1000 meter speedskater, garnering a staggering 40 World Cup wins to go along with his two Olympic Gold Medals and three 1000m World Championship titles.
With the 2014-2015 World Cup season half complete, Shani remains the second winning-est man in World Cup history with 58 career individual victories to Wotherspoon’s 67.
Shani now returns stateside to prepare for the U.S. Championships, Jan. 9-11 in Milwaukee.
[photo credit: Martin de Jong | you can find more photos in the Photo gallery 2014]
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