Biney becomes first black woman in US Olympic speedskating team

WASHINGTON -- Maame Biney became the first black woman to qualify for a US Olympic speedskating team after winning two straight 500 meters finals in the national shorttrack speedskating trials on Saturday.

The 17-year-old upset veteran speedskaters Lana Gehring, Jessica Kooreman and Katherine Reutter-Adamek twice in the two women's 500m finals and secured her ticket for the Pyeongchang Winter Games next year.

Biney is also the second black speedskater on a US Olympic team. Shani Davis was 19 when he qualified for the shorttrack speedskating team in 2002. He later turned to speedskating and won two Olympic golds.