A Quick Rise in a Quick Sport BioAchievementsMore Ryan Pivirotto was riveted to the television watching the Speed Skating finals of the Games in Vancouver in 2010. He was a hockey player and loved competing, but watching Apolo Ohno dominate in the controlled riot on ice called Short Track Speed Skating was all it took…
Always Proactive, Always Reactive on the Ice BioAchievementsMore Standing on the winners’ podium at the Games is a dream moment for athletes across the world, and Lana Gehring can tell you all about it. As a bronze medalist in Short Track Speedskating in the Games in Vancouver in 2010, she learned that even though “the…
Skating Almost Before She Could Walk BioAchievementsMore It’s one thing to compete in an event as a world-class athlete and quite another to compete in one as a toddler. For Jessica Kooreman, however, this young start is exactly what has helped her become one of the best Short Track Speed Skaters in the world. She…
Life in the Fast (and Smart) Lane BioAchievementsMore From his start in inline speed skating, Washington native Aaron Tran has sped his way to two bronze medals at World Cup events and a place on the US team in 2018 as a short track speed skater. He hopes one day to be recognized as one…
Big Goals from a Young Age: Podium or Bust BioAchievementsMore Some five-year-old kids are still tripping over their feet when running across the playground, but for Short Track Speed Skater Thomas Hong, this was when he began racing on the ice at his local Speed Skating club in Columbia, Maryland. Since then, Thomas has dedicated…
Long Track to Long Track BioAchievementsMore When Carlijn Schoutens’ parents took her to the ice skating rink every week as a child, she never dreamed it would one day lead to competition in the national championships and the Games. Now Schoutens trains twice a day in the winter and summer to compete as a Long…
She’s never slowed down BioAchievementsMore A three-time Winter Games competitor, Allison won her first medal at the 2010 Vancouver Games as a member of the bronze medal-winning women’s 3,000-meter relay team. But her journey to Vancouver started way back in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania where she began her sporting life as a roller skater. Allison graduated…
“Give up” is not in her vocabulary BioAchievementsMore Jilleanne Rookard made the change from inline skating to speed skating in 2006. It wasn’t the easiest of transitions, but she eventually established herself as one of the best American long-track skaters on the ice. At any step along the way she could have given up; quietly…
She’s got it on ice BioAchievementsMore Kelly Gunther is rightfully nicknamed “The Comeback Kid”—she epitomizes perseverance and determination. After a heart-breaking ruling rescinded her place on the American skating team for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Kelly’s foot was nearly severed in a horrific accident on the ice just three months later in the…
The ice. The gym. And the medal. BioAchievementsMore Alyson realized a lifelong dream when she won a bronze medal in short track speed skating at the 2010 Vancouver Games—a dream that began while watching the 1998 Nagano Games in front of the family TV as an 8 year old. Inspired by the athletes, she proclaimed…
