A uniform change-up did not have the payoff the U.S. speedskating team would have liked.
The U.S. skaters blamed their new Under Armour suits for poor times earlier in the 2014 Winter Olympics, prompting some skaters to switch back to suits they previously wore during World Cup season.
Saturday did not pan out the way the U.S. squad would have hoped, though, as no skater finished higher than seventh.
One of the skaters who changed up his attire, Olympic veteran Shani Davis, won two gold medals and two silvers at the 2006 and 2010 Winter Games. History did not repeat itself this year, though, as Davis placed 11th in the men’s 1,500 meters and will leave Sochi without an individual medal.
Zbigniew Brodka of Poland took gold, while Netherland’s Koen Verweij and Canada’s Denny Morrison won silver and bronze, respectively.
On Thursday, Davis finished eighth in the men’s 1,000 meters, which he won gold in at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino. If he had won gold again, it would have made him the first male skater to claim gold in the same event in three consecutive Olympic Games.
“We have no medals, man. We have none, and the way things are looking we might not get any,” Davis said, via The Associated Press. “It’s sad because we’ve had a lot of potential, a lot of talent. It’s terrible; big, big, big disappointment.”
If results continue this way, the U.S. speedskating team might be looking at its first Olympic medal shutout since 1984.
Photo via Twitter/@SochiNYT
