HAMAR, NORWAY – 27 November 2010

In a battle of the world’s top middle-distance skaters, defending 1500 m World Cup Champion Shani Davis earned another podium finish and maintained his narrow lead in the Overall World Cup standings in the distance.

Racing in the final pairing against hometown favorite Havard Bokko of Norway, Shani skated 1:45.98, good enough for the bronze medal and 70 precious World Cup points. With that finish, the two-time 1500m Olympic Silver Medalist brought his World Cup-leading total to 210 points after three races. Hamar silver medalist Simon Kuipers, who finished second to Shani in the 1500 m World Cup opener in The Netherlands, now trails Shani by 5 points in the overall standings. Bokko, who stood second overall as the day began, couldn’t match Shani’s speed in the first 1100 meters and finished 5th on the day.

Said Shani: “I’m happy to regain some of the ground that I lost last week [in Berlin]. I am improving, but it just takes some time. The good thing is that all the hard work was done this summer, I just need to fine-tune some things…[I’m] heading in the right direction, so overall I’m happy.”

Shani added a Gold Medal in the Team Pursuit event, joining forces with Hamar 1500 m winner Trevor Marsicano and distance specialist Jonathan Kuck. It was the second World Cup victory for the talented U.S. trio, which won the season-opening Team Pursuit in Berlin last week. Teams from Canada and Norway rounded out the top three.

The ISU World Cup now heads to Southeast Asia for sprint events. Shani will strive to increase his Overall World Cup lead at 1000m in Obihiro, Japan, December 11 & 12.

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