Shani Davis

But Davis won't be tooling around the 1994 Olympic oval in Hamar. He
will be in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., trying to qualify for the next two
World Cup events in short-track speedskating.

 Everyone but Davis thinks he is on the wrong track.

"His heart is in short track, even if he could be the next person (after
Eric Heiden) to qualify in every Olympic event in long track," said Bob
Fenn of Milwaukee, who occasionally coaches Davis.

Northbrook native Andy Gabel, a three-time Olympian in short track and
currently president of U.S. Speedskating, said dozens of people have
tried to convince Davis to concentrate on long track, the traditional
side of the sport.

"He is extraordinary in long track," Gabel said. "His stride is
incredibly efficient, he has amazing strength and a huge oxygen tank.
"In short track, Shani is competent. His size (6 feet 2 inches, 175
pounds) hurts him in terms of agility."

Of course, if Davis had followed tradition, he might never have become
the first African-American skater to win a medal (silver) at the World
All-Around Championships and a title at the World Single Distance
Championships, and become the first U.S. man to make a world team in
both short- and long-track disciplines in the same season.

He did all that last winter after having become the first black
speedskater to make a U.S. Olympic team two years earlier.

"I'm not doing anything different from last year," Davis said via
telephone from Calgary, where the 1988 Olympic oval is his primary
training rink. "Short track is fun for me, and I like doing what is
fun."

Short track definitely is more fun. It is a race against a pack of
people, first to the finish the winner, with a few elements of roller
derby thrown in to make the race more exciting. Long trackers race in
pairs, but they are competing against the clock.

The little money available in the sport is in long track, where Dutch
and Norwegian companies are ready to pay the stars.

The prize money for the long-track World Cup is from 50 to 300 percent
more, depending on category, than the money on the short-track circuit.
Chad Hedrick of the U.S., reigning world all-around champion, skates for
a team sponsored by a Dutch bank and will make a low six-figure income
from the sport this year. U.S. sprinter Kip Carpenter skates for the
same team.

"I don't skate for the money," Davis said. "I don't have many bills to
pay, and what I do, I can pay from the money I make in skating. You
can't let your passion for the sport get clouded by money."

Davis, 22, a 2002 Olympian in short track, wants to be the first to
compete in both short and long track events at the Olympics.

In short track, Davis is among several skaters scrambling for places on
a U.S. team dominated by Olympic champion Apolo Anton Ohno.

If Davis is the top U.S. finisher at the New York meet, he will qualify
for the individual events and the relay at the upcoming two World Cup
events. If he is second or third, he will qualify for the relay at both
but individual events only at one.

Davis was in the latter situation at the first two World Cups last month
in China. He skated only the relay--which was disqualified in the
final--at the opening World Cup in Harbin. He then was 16th overall
individually (Ohno was second after winning in Harbin) and part of a
silver-medal relay in Beijing.

"What Shani is doing works in terms of training, but in terms of
competing, he absolutely is wasting his time in short track," Gabel
said.

Davis, who also has completed two years of studies at Northern Michigan,
believes he has not reached his potential in short track. He thinks he
has plenty of time to concentrate on long track, "which you can do in
your 30s."

Based on last year's performances, Davis made this season's long-track
World Cup team in the 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000 meters. By declining to
compete in the fall portion of the long-track World Cup schedule, he
must do well at U.S. Championships in December to make the team for the
2005 world meets.

He intends to focus on long track again in early December but admits
those plans could change based on results this weekend.

"It is possible I would do only long track the rest of this season and
for the Olympics," Davis said. "But I like what I'm doing now, and I
don't want to sell myself short."