The 2018-19 season in speed skating is heating up, with the U.S. World Cup Qualifier and the first American Cup on this weekend at the Pettit Ice Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The field includes many of the U.S. Olympians from the 2018 PyeongChang Games:
Men:
∙ Kimani Griffin: 26th in the 500 m
∙ Joey Mantia: 4th in the 1,000 m; 8th at 1,500 m; 9th in the Mass Start
Women:
∙ Brittany Bowe: 5th in the 500 m; 4th at 1,000 m; 5th at 1,500 m
∙ Erin Jackson: 24th at the 500 m
∙ Carlijn Schoutens: 22nd at the 3,000 m; 11th at 5000 m
∙ Jerica Tandiman: 28th at the 1,000 m
They and 329 others will be hard at work on a full program of events; the headline competitors and their workloads, based on the entries:
Men:
∙ K.C. Boutiette: 500-1,000-1,500 m-Mass Start-5,000-10,000 m
∙ Kimani Griffin: 500-1,000 m
∙ Joey Mantia: 500-1,000-1,500 m-Mass Start
Women:
∙ Brittany Bowe: 500-1,000-1,500 m
∙ Erin Jackson: 500-1,000-1,500 m
∙ Paige Schwartzburg: 500-1,000-1,500 m-Mass Start
∙ Carlijn Schoutens: 500-1,000-1,500-3,000-5,000 m
∙ Jerica Tandiman: 500-1,000-1,500 m
The event starts Wednesday and continued through Sunday and will be used to select the U.S. World Cup team that will begin competition in mid-November in Japan. Look for results here.
Not present in Milwaukee is four-time World Champion Heather Bergsma, who teamed with Bowe and Mia Manganello to win an Olympic bronze in the Team Pursuit, the U.S.’s first long-track medal since 2010! Bergsma and husband Jorrit – the 2014 Olympic gold medalist at 10,000 m for the Netherlands – welcomed a son on 16 October, named Brent Bergsma. Wrote Heather on Instsgram, “He decided 38 weeks and 2 days was long enough. Jorrit and I couldn’t be any happier.”