Olympics: Shani Davis Also Falls Short in Three-Peat Bid

Another day, another failed three-peat attempt.
Trying to become the first American man to win three straight golds at a Winter Olympics, Shani Davis finished in a disappointing eighth place in the 1,000 meters Wednesday. This came a day after Shaun White finished fourth in the halfpipe in his quest for the first three-peat by a U.S. man.

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Stefan Groothuis of the Netherlands won in 1:08.39, followed by Canada's Denny Morrison (1:08.43) and another Dutchman, 500-meter champ Michel Mulder (1:08.74).Skating in the third-to-last pair, Davis posted a 1:09.12. In his previous two Olympic victories, he was the only skater sub-1:09. Davis, who used his 24th-place finish in the 500 meters as practice for his specialty, still has the 1,500 meters left, in which he's a two-time defending silver medalist.In the first final of the day, the women's downhill saw a historic gold medal tie between Slovenia's Tina Maze and Switzerland's Dominique Gisin, who both clocked in at 1:41.57. Swiss Lara Gut earned bronze in 1:41.67. American Julia Mancuso, who dominated the downhill en route to a bronze in the super combined on Monday, was eighth.

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After failing to podium for the first time in the men's halfpipe, the U.S. grabbed two spots in the women's event for the third consecutive Olympics. Kaitlyn Farrington took gold with a score of 91.75, and 2002 champion Kelly Clark won her second straight bronze (90.75). Clark, the heavy favorite who won 16 straight contests in 2012, is the first snowboarder to win three Olympic medals. Defending champion Torah Bright of Australia was second (91.50).Russia reclaimed the top spot in the figure skating pairs event with a resounding victory by world champs Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov (236.86). Compatriots Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov were second (218.68) and Germany's Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy were third (215.78). Russia had won every pairs gold from 1964 to 2006 before China's Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo won in Vancouver. Volosozhar and Trankov are also the first figure skaters to earn two gold medals at a single Olympics thanks to Russia's win in the new team event.

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Germany scored two gold medals: Eric Frenzel won the Nordic combined in 23:50.2, and Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt triumphed in the doubles luge (1:38.933). Japan's Akito Watabe and Norway's Magnus Krog were second and third, respectively, in the Nordic combined. Austria's Andreas Linger and Wolfgang Linger took silver in the doubles luge, with Latvia's Andris Sics and Juris Sics in third.What did you think of Day 5?