Brittany Bowe won the women’s 1,000-meter and teenager Jordan Stolz beat Joey Mantia in the men’s 1,000-meter at the US speed skating trials on Thursday.
Bowe, a 33-year-old skater from Ocala, Fla., Finished first in 1 minute 13.63 seconds, lowering her own track record.
“It was like a solid, smooth race,” she said. “I train during this competition and being able to put that kind of time into the end of a hard training cycle is pretty encouraging.”
Kimi Goetz was second in 1: 14.89. Erin Jackson, the first black woman to win a World Cup event this season, was third in 1: 15.88.
Jackson’s specialty is the 500, which is Friday at the Pettit National Ice Center. She and Bowe were part of the same duo for the first time in the 1000m.
“We were joking together before the race and I told her I was going to have to give her a taste of her own medicine of what she’ll probably give me tomorrow in the 500,” Bowe said.
Bowe is a medal threat in the 1,000m next month in Beijing as well as in the 1,500, which will come later in the five-day trials. His only Olympic medal was a bronze in the team pursuit four years ago in Pyeongchang. The United States did not qualify as a women’s team pursuit team for Beijing.
Not having fans in the stands didn’t bother Bowe.
“When you’re called on the line and the gunshot goes off, I can’t hear a thing if it’s a sold-out crowd or not a person here,” she said. “Most of the time I don’t even hear my coach yelling at me on the back stretch which was about three feet away from me.
Goetz was one of the top contenders in the United States in short track speed skating four years ago before suffering a concussion on day one of the 2018 Olympic Trials. She then switched to long track and finished five times in the top 10 during the World Cup season.
Skating in a duet after Mantia, Stolz took advantage of the ice rink in a record time of 1: 07.61. The 17-year-old from nearby Kewaskum trains with his club team at Pettit.
He vomited quickly after the race, the result of swallowing kefir, a fermented milk drink, an hour beforehand.
“I was so nauseous,” Stolz said. “All the lactic acid had just gone up, so I had to go and throw up.”
Stolz is the junior world record holder in the 1000m and won his first World Cup medal with a silver medal last month in Calgary.
Mantia clinched her third Olympic place finishing second in 1: 09.00. Austin Kleba was third in 1: 09.15.
Mantia had urged U.S. speed skating officials to cancel testing due to the increase in COVID-19 cases across the country.
“I was really upset that they pushed forward,” he said. “Almost all of the medal contenders and top athletes were pretty disappointed with the decision to go ahead with the trials, but here we are.”
Mantia suggested using a selection committee to choose the U.S. team for Beijing or restarting the pre-2014 selection process, when medal contenders and World Cup winners were given passes in. the team.
Mantia, who like Bowe and Jackson is from Ocala, Florida, is ranked first in the world in the men’s 1,500m. He also has chances of winning Olympic places in the team pursuit and mass start.
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