When Davis won those events, he became the second male skater to win both the Sprint and Allround in his career, after Eric Heiden.

His 58 career individual victories on the ISU Speed Skating World Cup circuit (through March 2014) place him second all-time among men.

[4] The Adelskalender ranks the all-time fastest long track speed skaters by personal best times in the four World Allround Championship distances.

[5] Davis is a native of Chicago, Illinois, and trained at two U.S. Olympic training facilities, the Pettit National Ice Center in West Allis, Wisconsin, and the Utah Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City, Utah.

[6] At 16, Davis was invited to Lake Placid, New York, to participate in a development program for young speed skaters.

[5] Davis would go on to win a bronze medal in the Team Relay at the 2005 World Short Track Championships in Beijing, China, shared by U.S. teammates Apolo Ohno, Rusty Smith and Alex Izykowski.

In December 2001, Davis was in Utah to compete for a spot on the 2002 Winter Olympics short track team.

Teammates Apolo Ohno and Rusty Smith already had slots on the six-man team, and Ron Biondo was a lock for the third spot; Davis needed to finish first in the final race to qualify.

Rumors began to swirl that Ohno and Smith—both good friends of Davis—intentionally threw the race in order to let Davis win the event.

[8] Ohno later confessed that he had subconsciously held back for fear of suddenly crashing into Davis or Smith, a common occurrence in the sport.

[citation needed] On February 13, 2002, Sports Illustrated writer Brian Cazeneuve published an article stating that, after reviewing the race, "To this day, there is no concrete proof that any skaters violated the spirit of competition.

"[9] Cazeneuve however, also published the comments of Outdoor Life Network commentator Todd Harris and 1998 Winter Olympian speed skater Eric Flaim, which were made during the broadcast of the race; both men agreed that Ohno and Smith had not skated to the best of their abilities.

In February of that year, he earned the title of North American long track champion, which qualified him for the World Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden.

During the competition, Davis was not yet adjusted to skating in the men's division, and his scores were much lower than usual; he finished 16th overall.

He finished in second place overall in the 2004 World Allround Long Track Championships in Hamar, Norway.

[10][11] When the U.S. submitted its final roster to the International Skating Union, three days before the first round, Davis was listed as a substitute; a decision Cushman said was made "in case [Davis] changed his mind," although substitutes are only allowed to race in the event of an emergency or illness.

[14][15] While U.S. speedskating released no official statement, Cushman later expressed support for Davis, saying, "I hoped Shani would skate the pursuit but I understand completely why he didn't want to, and I would have done the same thing.

"[10] U.S. Olympic Committee Chief Executive Jim Scherr commented that "[t]he way the public understood and the media portrayed the situation is inaccurate.

He made clear his desire to win the individual events he was focused on, and in the light of hindsight, with his two medals, that was the right decision.

At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Davis competed in four long-track speed skating events: the 500, 1000, 1500 and 5000 meter races.

One day before the February 9 opening ceremonies for the 2018 Winter Olympics, Davis Tweeted his displeasure with the process for choosing the American team flag bearer.

Davis's Tweet called the coin toss "dishonorable" and included the hashtag #BlackHistoryMonth2018, implying that race was, or should have been, a factor in the selection voting process.

[28] Frozone, an African-American superhero with ice powers from the animated movie The Incredibles, was allegedly inspired by Shani Davis.