American Shani Davis won his third straight World Cup title on Saturday. (Jens-Ulrich Koch/Getty Images)Olympic gold medallist Shani Davis of the United States collected his fifth 1,000-metre World Cup victory of the season on Saturday in Erfurth, Germany, clinching the overall title before the World Cup finale next weekend.
In the first World Cup since the Vancouver Olympics, Davis won the 1,000 in one minute 9.29 seconds. Olympic 1,500 gold medallist Mark Tuitert of the Netherlands was second, 14-100ths of a second slower.
One week before the finale in Heerenveen, Davis clinched his third straight overall World Cup title.
In the 500, Jan Smeekens of the Netherlands won his first World Cup over the distance this season in 34.97 seconds. But Finland's Mika Poutala finished fifth to remain atop the 500 World Cup standings.
Germany's Jenny Wolf captured the 47th World Cup victory of her career, winning the 500 in 38.08 seconds. The Vancouver 500 silver medallist clinched her seventh win in nine 500 races and was close to winning her fifth overall World Cup title.
Wolf's compatriot Monique Angermueller was the surprise winner of the women's 1,000 in 1:16.36 for her first World Cup victory.
Angermueller moved to second place in the 1000 standings behind Canadian Christine Nesbitt, who was sick and could not compete.
The races were overshadowed by the confirmation by Germany coach Markus Eichner that Heike Hartmann and Bente Kraus were in a list of skaters with too-high blood levels.
"We do not know how conspicuous the values were in the past and are absolute certain that this is not a matter of doping," said Eichner.
