Davis's Short Track Hopes Fading

Ohno Secures Olympic Berth; Kim Gets Close

Shani Davis, center, looks ahead at J.P. Kepka, right, and Anthony Lobello. "The competition is not over," he said. (By Kevork Djansezian -- Associated Press)

MARQUETTE, Mich., Dec. 15 -- The Olympic dream of Shani Davis -- well, half of it, anyway -- began dissolving Thursday night. With one day of competition remaining at the U.S. Short Track Speedskating Championships, Davis's hopes of making the U.S. Olympic team here remain alive but dim.

How dim? The math is complicated, but Davis, an optimist all week, offered a rather blunt and uncharacteristically negative assessment of the likelihood he could accrue the necessary points with just two more finals remaining Friday.

"When cows fly," he said about his hopes of a comeback, shaking his head as he walked down the hall toward the locker room after another disappointing race, this in the 1,500 semifinals.

At the end of the night, Davis, who is virtually assured of making the Olympic team in long track speedskating, sat in 10th place in the men's overall standings. After Friday's races, the top five men and top five women will be named to the team that will represent the United States at the Feb. 10-27 Winter Games in Turin, Italy.

Apolo Anton Ohno, a gold and silver medal winner at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, became the first athlete to secure an Olympic berth by winning the 1,000 final for his fourth victory in five races. Later, he added a victory in the 1,500, giving him 157 points, 103.5 more than Alex Izykowski, who sits in second place with 53.5.

"It feels good, but it's far from over," Ohno said. "There's still a lot of racing left to do."

On the women's side, Hyo Jung Kim, 17, finished third in the 1,000 and second in the 1,500, all but clinching a spot on the team fewer than two years after moving here from South Korea. She has 136 points. Allison Baver is second with 97. Sarah Lang of Alexandria is 11th with four. She claimed two points Thursday night with a seventh in the 1,500.

"A lot of people are coming up and having strong finals and taking points, and that's a good indication of the depth in short track," said Derrick Campbell, U.S. Speedskating's short track managing director.

Davis wasn't one of them. He needed magic and instead got his third day of mediocrity. Desperate for a top finish in one of the night's two finals to pull into the Olympic mix, Davis managed just a pair of sevenths in the 1,000 and 1,500 while other skaters moved up. He actually dropped from eighth place to 10th.

Davis has 11.5 total points -- 26.5 points behind J.P. Kepka, who currently sits in fifth and 32.5 behind Anthony Lobello, who is fourth. Davis would seem to need at least one first place (34 points) or second (21) in Friday's finals to contend for an Olympic team spot, and he hasn't come close so far this week. (Third through seventh places receive 13, 8, 5, 3, 2 points, respectively.)

Of course, in the rough-and-tumble world of short track speedskating, a comeback by Davis is not inconceivable. Just unlikely.

"I tried," he said before his last race of the night. "I tried my best. It was not good enough. There's nothing I can do about it now."

Davis is considered a full-blown star in long track speedskating, where he holds the world record in the 1,000, but he has long been on the fringe of the very elite in short track. His work was figured to be cut out for him here, especially given his recent schedule: After failing to make the fall World Cup team in this sport, he spent three months on the World Cup circuit in long track speedskating.

Two weeks before this event, he put on short track skates -- which are very different than the clap skates that long track skaters wear -- for the first time.

He trained hard on this ice on the Northern Michigan University campus, but he acknowledged that he didn't have time to get the feel for the sport that a more seasoned athlete would have.

He has performed consistently all week, finishing no worse than eighth in any race, but he needs a dose of excellence to make the team, and that has eluded him. Davis made the short track team for the 2002 Winter Games, but he didn't qualify to compete in any individual distance and left the Olympics in frustration before the relay.

In six competitions so far this week, Davis hasn't made a single A final (top four skaters).

"I go out and try to get as many points as possible," Davis said. "I do as much as my body allows me to do. It's all I can do. It's tough but I knew what I was getting myself into before I took the challenge. I'm happy I didn't back down from the challenge. The competition is not over. I still have a couple of races.

"Lord knows what can happen out there. This is short track."