After brilliant week, Shani Davis leaves door open to pursuit and bigger pursuit at Vancouver

Davis wins 10,000 and leaves door open to pursuit

MILWAUKEE — Shani Davis finished up a brilliant week at the U.S. speedskating trials with a surprisingly easy win in the 10,000 meters Sunday. Then he delivered even bigger news: He’s willing to consider being part of team pursuit at the Olympics.

Davis didn’t skate pursuit at the 2006 Turin Games, feeling it would hurt his individual races, and feuded over his decision with fellow American Chad Hedrick. After blowing away the field — Hedrick included — by more than 10 seconds in the 10,000, Davis accepted his nomination as one of five skaters who could take part in the pursuit.

That doesn’t mean he’ll do it for sure in Vancouver, but it’s a tantalizing first step. The Americans would likely give the favored Dutch a major challenge if they can send out a team with Davis, Hedrick and rising star Trevor Mariscano.

“I would love for him to be part of it,” said Hedrick, who finished sixth in the 10,000, more than 19 seconds behind Davis. “If we can get it together, we’d be the team to beat.”

Davis made the U.S. World Cup team in all five individual events, ranging from 500 to 10,000, and the team pursuit gives him a sixth possible race. He won the 10,000 with a time of 13 minutes, 29.01 seconds — easily his fastest time ever on a sea-level track.

Would he consider trying to break Eric Heiden’s iconic Winter Olympic record of five gold medals, less than two years after Michael Phelps took down Mark Spitz’s mark in the Summer Games? Davis shook his head and laughed off the possibility, but he’s not ruling out any event at this point.

“I love skating. I love the challenge,” said Davis, the first black athlete to win an individual gold medal at the Winter Games. “I like trying to push myself to greater and bigger heights.”

Both Davis and Hedrick said they want to put aside the bitterness that marred their stellar performances in Italy, where Davis won a gold and a silver and Hedrick claimed a medal of every color.

Davis said all along that he didn’t want to skate the pursuit, which was held for the first time at those Olympics and brought a team element to what has always been an individual sport. Hedrick — who entered five events and didn’t shy away from comparisons to Heiden — felt Davis let down his country by skipping a chance to give the Americans another speedskating medal.

With Davis on the sideline, the U.S. team had to use a slower skater and was eliminated in the early rounds.

At Vancouver, team pursuit will be the final event of the speedskating program and presumably wouldn’t interfere with Davis’ individual races. He’s certainly willing to consider it, having already tried out the concept when he skated with Hedrick and Mariscano at a meet in the Netherlands last year (they finished a close second to the Dutch).

“I felt like I would give it a try and see how it goes,” Davis said. “I’m not closing out the idea of skating it.”

The Milwaukee trials actually determined the World Cup team that will head to Europe next week for the first of five meets, the results of which will determine the U.S. Olympic squad. Davis said those meets will give him a better idea of his program for Vancouver. The only sure bets are the 1,000 and 1,500 — he holds the world record in both.

“I could do every event but a lot of it has to do with scheduling,” Davis said. “I wouldn’t like to water down the potency of my skating just trying to go out there and skate everything. There are some specialists out there and you’ve got to bring your ‘A’ game for those guys. If I’m watering myself down skating 5,000s and 10,000s and 500s, then that’s not so good for me.”

Hedrick, who won silver in the 10,000 at Turin, said he hasn’t trained for the grueling event and has no intention of skating it at these Olympics. His lack of preparation was evident when he struggled home in 13:48.37.

But Hedrick gave himself another option for Vancouver when he made a surprise appearance in a second round of the 1,000 earlier Sunday. He wound up with a spot on the World Cup team in that event by posting the fourth-fastest time overall, 1:10.38. He also qualified in the 1,500 and 5,000.

Jilleanne Rookard was an unexpected star of the trials. She completed a sweep of the long-distance races, adding the 5,000 title to her victory in the 3,000, and qualified for five events overall, including pursuit.