Shani Davis wins Oscar Award for speedskating

Peri Kinder - U. S. Speedskating - US Speed Skating May 20, 2009

Photo: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

Shani Davis of the USA celebrates after winning the Men's 1500m and taking the gold medal at the ISU World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships at the Richmond Olympic Oval on March 11, 2009 in Richmond, Canada.

Olympic gold-medalist Shani Davis won Norway's Oscar Award for the 2008-2009 season. Davis was given the award for setting two world long track speedskating records in two days at the World Cup finals in Salt Lake City, UT, in March 2009. Davis set a 1500m record of 1:41.8 on March 6, and the next day set a 1000m record with a blisteringly fast 1.06.42. The Oscar award was created in Oslo, Norway in 1959 to honor Oscar Mathisen, a five-time world allround speedskating champion and multiple world record holder who died in 1954. Other U.S. skaters to win the award are Chad Hedrick (2004), Bonnie Blair (1992) and Eric Heiden (1977, 1978, 1979, 1980). Davis also won the Oscar Award in 2005.