Long Track Speed Skating

VANCOUVER - Dutch distance star Sven Kramer and US sprint standout Shani Davis look to be the men to beat for speed skating gold at the Winter Olympics while Canadian and European athletes are women's favorites.

Davis became the first black Winter Olympic individual event champion by winning 2006 Olympic 1,000m gold and also took 1,500m silver. The three-time 1,500m and two-time 1,000m world champion owns world records at each distance.

In World Cup 1,000m races this season, Davis is 4-for-4 with South Koreans Mo Tae-Bum and Lee Kyou-Hyuk his nearest Cup rivals.

In the 1,500m, Davis is 4-of-5 this season, his only loss coming to American Chad Hedrick, the same rival who feuded with Davis in 2006. Hedrick was unhappy Davis did not race in team pursuit, dimming Hedrick's hope for five medals.

The spat is in the past but the pressure remains, especially for the 1,500m.

"I'm excited about competing against him. He's a great skater," reigning Olympic 5,000m champion Hedrick said of Davis.

"We're going to give people heartaches out there, But I'm targeting the 1,500. That's the one that Shani and I both let get away last time."

Kramer is a three-time reigning world champion at 5,000m and 10,000m as well as with the Dutch squad in team pursuit. After taking 5,000m silver at the 2006 Turin Games, the four-time European all-round champion eyes gold in Vancouver.

"I don't have my gold medal," Kramer said. "I will go for it."

Norway's Håvard Bøkko, last year's 5,000m and 10,000m world runner-up, could again offer the biggest obstacle to the supremacy of Kramer, 23, in the longest events.

South Koreans Lee Kang-Seok, who has not won since the season opener, and Lee Kyou-Hyuk, who won the last three pre-Olympic races, are 500m favorites.

On the women's side, Germany's Jenny Wolf, a three-time 500 world champion who broke her own world record in December, has six World Cup wins this season.

China's Wang Beixing, a four-time 500m worlds runner-up, has two wins this season and joins Korean Lee Sang-Hwa and Japan's Nao Kodaira as a threat.

Australian-born Canadian Christine Nesbitt, the 1,000m world champion, is 4-for-4 in the World Cup season. Nesbitt is also a 1,500m threat, ranking second to compatriot and 2006 Olympic runner-up Kristina Groves in the Cup standings.

Dutch star Ireen Wüst and 2002 Olympic champion Anni Friesinger-Postma of Germany also will contend.

Five-time Olympic medallist Clara Hughes of Canada will try to defend her 5,000m title but Czech reigning world champion and world record-holder Martina Sablikova is favored in both the 5,000m and 3,000m.

Canada, which set a team pursuit world record in December, also boasts five-time 2006 medalist Cindy Klassen the reigning 1,500m Olympic champion who is recovering from surgery on both knees.