Davis 5th, Richardson 6th in World Sprint Overall Finish

The world's top sprinters returned to fast ice at the Calgary Olympic Oval for the second day of the 2012 Essent ISU World Sprint Championships. World and Olympic Champion Shani Davis (Chicago, Ill.) finished second in today's 1000m with a time of 1:07.11, just .15 back from distance winner, and 2012 World Sprint Champion Stefan Groothuis (NED).

Sjoerd de Vries finished third with 1:07.72. "I'm okay with the results, I wanted to win the 1000m today, but I didn't have the best opener, but my first lap and last lap were incredible," said Davis. "I have to take what I was given and go back home and work on these things and try to get stronger for the World Single Distances and the rest of the World Cups. I believe I'm heading in the right direction and only time will tell from here on out."

In the men's 500m today, Joji Kato (JPN) won with a time of 34.35, Mika Poutala (FIN) took second (34.38), and Tae-Bum Mo (KOR) was third (34.42). Davis finished 18th (35.02) and Mitch Whitmore (Waukesha, WI) was 30th with 35.75. In men's overall standings, Groothuis was crowned champion, Kyou-Hyuk Lee (KOR) was second (+.19), and Tae-Bum Mo (KOR) was third (+.27). Davis finished fifth overall (+.55), and Whitmore finished 31st in his first World Sprint Championship appearance.

For the second consecutive day, fans witnessed a new world record as China's Jing Yu skated a 36.94 in the ladies 500m, breaking the previous world record time of 37.00 set by Jenny Wolf (GER) at the Utah Olympic Oval in December 2009.

Beixing Wang (CHN) took second with 37.32, and Olympic Champion Sang-Hwa Lee (KOR) placed third at 37.36. Heather Richardson (High Point, N.C.) skated a strong 37.85 to take 7th, and Brittany Bowe (Ocala, FL) posted a 38.40 for 19th place. The ladies 1000m was a race between the two new World Record holders. Canada's Christine Nesbitt skated another sub 1:13, posting 1:12.94 for the win, while Jing Yu (CHN) followed up her record setting 500 with a 1:13.47 to take second and clinch the overall Sprint title by just .02 seconds.

Marrit Leenstra (NED) took third (1:13.89) in the 1000m. Richardson had a strong race to post 1:14.05 for 5th, and Bowe tied Yukana Nishina (JPN) in her pairing at 1:15.80 to share 16th place. "I'm super excited. I jumped up a couple of spots and today was a lot faster so I'm happy," said Richardson. "I wanted to focus on technique more today, and actually that helped my skating a lot." In ladies overall standings, Yu won the championship title, Nesbitt was second (+.02) and Hong Zhang (CHN) finished third (+1.10).

Richardson placed sixth overall (+1.58), and Bowe finished 18th in her World Sprint Championship debut. "Shani and Heather stepped it up today, but the first day deficit was just a little too much to overcome to reach the overall podium," said U.S. National Sprint Head Coach Ryan Shimabukuro. "They fought really hard to the end, and I'm very proud of them for that." "I know Brittany and Mitch aren't happy with their performances this weekend but they gained valuable experience in their first World Sprint Championships and you'll be seeing a lot more of them both in the future," he added. Extended World Sprint Championship results are available at http://live.isuresults.eu/2011-2012/calgary/

For more information, visit: www.usspeedskating.org

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