SPEED SKATING: A day after his breakthrough silver medal at the 2014 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships, Australia's Daniel Greig has repeated the incredible feat in the second 500m race.
SPEED SKATING: A day after his breakthrough silver medal at the 2014 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships, Australia's Daniel Greig has repeated the incredible feat in the second 500m race.
"It's been great," Greig said from Nagano, Japan.
"It's just been fantastic and it's really nice for my self confidence going into Sochi. My fitness and speed have been really good and I saw at the World Cups that it was all there but it just hadn't all come together at the right time yet. It came together now."
Greig, a former inline skater who only stepped onto the ice for the first time five years ago, was second in Race 2 of the 500m in 35.17 seconds, just 0.05 behind Michel Mulder of the Netherlands.
"We are super excited with this result," coach Desly Hill said. "Daniel was the best he has been in his short skating career so far. He had personal records for the openings and also for sea level races."
The 22-year-old skater not only grabbed the silver medal for his efforts and set personal records, but impressed everyone by being the only athlete to improve on his 500m time from the previous day.
But the accolades didn't end there for the young Victorian skater.
A couple of hours later, he went on to finish a credible fifth in the 1000m. Having placed eighth in the 1000m on day one, this was another improvement for Greig.
Greig drew the inside lane against Dutch skater Ronald Mulder, the twin brother of Michel who won last night's 500m event.
The pair were evenly matched throughout the 1000m race, with Greig snatching the win by just 0.24 seconds to finish in 1:10.35.
"I knew that all I needed to do was to beat my opponent to finish on the overall podium," Greig said. "If I would cross the line first then I would get enough points."
Greig was just 1.39 seconds off the pace of eventual winner, Shani Davis of the United States. Davis, the defending Olympic Champion over 1000m from the past two Olympic Games, took out the title in 1:08.96.
"I was happy with my 1000m results but when I compare it to my 500m rankings, there is definitely room for improvement," Greig said.
Denis Kuzin of Kazakhstan and Michel Mulder of the Netherlands rounded out the medals.
Greig's two silver medals and his two top 10 results in the 1000m races meant that he finished third overall at the World Championships - as the results of all four races are combined to decide the overall places. He was third behind Michel Mulder and Davis.
For Greig, who is close friends and training partners with Mulder, finishing so close together was an added bonus.
"After the third distance, we saw that we were ranked one and two on the points. We started making jokes - 'Should we still be talking to each other?!' It didn't really change anything though, we both enjoyed the racing and are happy with the results."
Greig will now head back home to the Netherlands for final training and preparation ahead of the Sochi 2014 Games which get underway on 7 February.
Final World Championships results:
500m Race 1 - 2nd (35.19)
500m Race 2 - 2nd (35.17)
1000m Race 1 - 8th (1:10.36)
1000m Race 2 - 5th (1:10.35)