Meet the 2022 U.S. Olympic Long Track Speedskating Team
by Kelly Feng
The 24 women and 34 men competing at the Pettit National Ice Center battled in six events — from the 500 to 3,000-meters for the women and 500 to 5,000 for the men, to the newest event added to the Olympic speedskating program, the mass start.
Traditionally one of the world’s most successful countries in the sport, the U.S. is coming off two Olympics in which it won just a single medal: the women’s team pursuit bronze in 2018. However, with multiple world champions and some of this season’s fastest skaters on the roster, the 2022 U.S. team has the potential to bring home multiple medals from Beijing.
Here’s a glimpse of the dozen long track skaters who will compete for Team USA in February.
Women's Team
Women's Team
Brittany Bowe
Brittany Bowe warms up ahead of competing in the 2022 U.S. Speedskating Long Track Olympic Trials on Jan. 7, 2022 in in Milwaukee, Wis.
Bowe earned her third trip to the Olympics early in the week and capped it off by going three-for-three with berths in the 500, 1,000 and 1,500. In the process, the 33-year-old from Ocala, Florida, set a track record in the 1,000.
Perhaps Bowe’s greatest legacy in Milwaukee will be what she did off the oval. After Erin Jackson, the world’s top-ranked skater at the 500-meter distance, stumbled and finished third, Bowe relinquished her spot. There’s still a chance Bowe, who is most competitive at the 1,000 and 1,500, could earn a spot in the 500 if another country is unable to fill its quota.
The 2018 Olympic bronze medalist in the team pursuit, Bowe’s best hope for hardware in Beijing is in the 1,000, an event in which she’s the world-record holder, world cup leader and a three-time world champion.
Erin Jackson
Erin Jackson poses at the Team USA Beijing 2022 Olympic shoot on Sept. 12, 2021 in Irvine, Calif.
In 2017, Jackson made the switch from inline speedskating to long track. Four months later she qualified for the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, becoming the first Black American woman named to an Olympic long track team. Her Olympic journey this time around was expected to be easier as Jackson, 29, is the world’s top-ranked skater at 500 meters this season and won four of the eight world cups at the distance. Instead, in a stunning result she caught her skate and finished third in the event at the trials. She’ll go to Beijing after all, but only after fellow Ocala native Bowe relinquished her quota spot.
Mia Manganello Kilburg
Mia Manganello Kilburg warms up ahead of competing in the 2022 U.S. Speedskating Long Track Olympic Trials on Jan. 5, 2022 in in Milwaukee, Wis.
Manganello Kilburg topped off her qualifying week by earning the mass start berth. Though she was second behind Birkeland in Milwaukee, Manganello Kilburg had all but locked in her spot by accumulating enough points on the world cup circuit. Earlier in the week, the 32-year-old from Crestview, Florida, qualified the last reserve spot in the women’s 3,000 and, a couple of days later, came in second to Bowe in the 1,500. The 2018 Olympic bronze medalist is also a competitive cyclist.
Kimi Goetz
Kimi Goetz competes in the women's 1000 meter during the 2022 U.S. Speedskating Long Track Olympic Trials on Jan. 6, 2022 in Milwaukee, Wis.
Goetz, 27, is a former short track skater who switched to the long track after a concussion kept her out of the 2018 Olympic trials. She had a strong week in Milwaukee, with runner-up finishes in the 500 and 1,000. A native of Flemington, New Jersey, Goetz began as an inline skater but eventually found her way to long track and now the Olympic Games. While circling a 400-meter oval instead of the 111-meter was a big change, it’s one she adapted to quickly.
Giorgia Birkeland
Giorgia Birkeland reacts after winning the Women’s Mass Start event during the 2022 U.S. Speedskating Long Track Olympic Trials on Jan. 9, 2022 in Milwaukee, Wis.
Birkeland was added to the team as a discretionary pick, making her the last name inked on the Olympic roster. The 19-year-old from White Bear Lake, Minnesota, is a rising star in the U.S. program, and backed that up with a win in Sunday’s mass start, an often chaotic and unpredictable race. The race at the trials was the last in a series of three mass start qualifiers, with two of them raced on the world cup circuit to determine which athlete would receive the lone guaranteed Olympic spot in the event.
Men's Team
Men's Team
Joey Mantia
Joey Mantia celebrates his victory in the men's mass start during the ISU World Speed Skating Championships on Feb. 13, 2021 in Heerenveen, Netherlands.
At 35, Mantia remains as competitive as ever as he races toward his third Olympic Games. A fellow Ocala native, he came into the trials ranked No. 1 in the 1,500-meter and lived up to the hype, winning the event and breaking a track record set by Olympic bronze medalist Chad Hendrick — a skater he’s admired since his inline skating days. However, it’s the mass start where Mantia truly shines. He’s a three-time world champion in an event where no other man has won more than once. Four years ago in PyeongChang, Mantia just missed the podium in the 1,000, placing fourth.
Jordan Stolz
Jordan Stolz competes in the men's 500 meter during the 2022 U.S. Speedskating Long Track Olympic Trials on Jan. 7, 2022 in Milwaukee, Wis.
Stolz, 17, has been the breakout start for the U.S. men this season, and that continued on his home ice in Milwaukee when he won the 500 and 1,000 — breaking track records in both along the way. His Olympic journey began when his father cleared a path on the family’s three-acre pond, giving his 5-year-old son a chance to skate. The speedskating world has been noticing the Kewaskum, Wisconsin, native for years, but it wasn’t until the 2021 breakthrough season that the spotlight shined on the teenager.
Stolz is the junior world record-holder in the 1,000 and the third youngest man ever to make the U.S. Olympic speedskating team. In December, he earned his first world cup medal, a silver, in the 1,000 in Calgary. Stolz also set a new junior world record in the 500 meters in Calgary.
Ethan Cepuran
Ethan Cepuran celebrates winning the men's 5000 meter race at the 2022 U.S. Speedskating Long Track Olympic Trials on Jan. 5, 2022 in Milwaukee, Wis.
With a season-long improvement, Cepuran bettered his times through nearly every 5K race in 2021. On the first day of the trials, Cepuran rallied on the race’s last lap and inked his name as the first skater to qualify for Beijing. Cepuran’s first speedskating memories come from the Pettit Center, the site of the 2022 Olympic trials. When he was a toddler, he learned to skate by pushing a bucket in the middle of the rink. Now 21, the Glen Ellyn, Illinois, native also finished second in the mass start in Milwaukee.
Casey Dawson
Casey Dawson competes in the men's 5000 meter during the 2022 U.S. Speedskating Long Track Olympic Trials on Jan. 5, 2022 in Milwaukee, Wis.
Dawson, 21, is a significant part of the U.S. team pursuit group, having competed in three out of the four world cup races this season. He could also race in Beijing in the 5,000 after finishing second in Milwaukee, and he was third in the 1,500. A native of Park City, Utah, Dawson is a computer engineering student at the University of Utah who spent part of last summer developing endurance through high-altitude cycling in the Utah mountains. Although he doesn’t come from the inline skating world like many of his teammates, he has built skating-specific strength through inline skating workouts.
Emery Lehman
Emery Lehman warms up ahead of competing in the 2022 U.S. Speedskating Long Track Olympic Trials on Jan. 5, 2022 in in Milwaukee, Wis.
Lehman, 25, sprinted to the finish line in the 1,500, just behind Joey Mantia, to secure a berth for his third Olympics. Earlier in the week, Lehman finished third behind friends and teammates Ceparun and Dawson in the 5,000. The trio took part in the team pursuit in the world cup circuit, and there’s a good chance they will unite for the race in Beijing. At the 2014 Sochi Games, Lehman was 17 and the youngest male member of Team USA. If being a three-time Olympian isn’t enough of an accomplishment, the Oak Park, Illinois, native is a student in Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering’s master’s degree program. Last year, he took an online structural engineering course with the university.
Ian Quinn
Ian Quinn competes in the men's mass start semi-finals during the ISU World Cup Speed Skating on Jan. 29, 2021 in Heerenveen, Netherlands.
The winner of the men’s mass start Sunday, Quinn, was originally a short track skater. He transitioned to long track because it’s easier to control the outcome skating against the clock without the chaos and unknowns of short track. Yet when the mass start event was added to the Olympic program in 2018, Quinn found his calling, bringing his short track and high school cross country experience to the event. The 28-year-old St. Louis native is ranked sixth in the world in the mass start.
Austin Kleba
Austin Kleba warms up ahead of competing in the 2022 U.S. Speedskating Long Track Olympic Trials on Jan. 7, 2022 in in Milwaukee, Wis.
Austin Kleba took second in the men’s 500 race, though the 22-year-old from Campton Hills, Illinois, had to wait until the last day of trials to learn if he secured a spot on the 2022 Olympic team. A hockey player since childhood, Kleba switched to speedskating after a series of injuries. His hockey experience trained him to develop explosive starts in speedskating. If he finds extra time in his training schedule, Kleba loves making and recording music. You can find him on TikTok producing videos recording his guitar and other tracks.
Kelly Feng
Kelly Feng is a sports journalist based in Wisconsin. She is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.