Get to know Erin Jackson: 5 facts about the world No. 1 speedskater and Olympic gold-medal favorite – For The Win
For the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, For The Win is helping you get to know some of the star Olympians competing on the world’s biggest stage. Leading up to the Opening Ceremony, we’re highlighting 15 Team USA athletes we think you should get to know. Up next is speedskater Erin Jackson.
American long track speedskater Erin Jackson enters her second Olympic Games in a very different spot compared with her first. The 29-year-old skater from Ocala, Florida went to the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics after only a few months of training on the ice, and now, she’s headed to the Beijing Games on top of the world — literally.
So ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics, here are five things to know about Jackson.
In November in Poland, Jackson became the first Black woman to win a speedskating event, and her recent dominance includes winning four out of eight World Cup 500-meter races this season, plus a second- and third-place finish. All those victories have her currently ranked No. 1 in the world by the International Skating Union.
While that can come with added pressure ahead of the Olympics, it could also serve as a major confidence boost.
Before becoming an Olympic speedskater, Jackson was skating on a slightly different surface. She started out as an inline skater in Ocala, Florida — like fellow speedskating Olympians Brittany Bowe and Joey Mantia — and she’s also a roller derby player. Jackson is a 12-time Inline World Championship medalist, per Team USA.
A post shared by Erin Jackson (@speedyj)
Looking back on her early Olympic memories, Jackson told NBC Olympics:
“As I got older and switched to inline speed skating, I enjoyed watching Apollo Ohno in short track. However, my favorite memory was watching former inline teammates Brittany Bowe and Joey Mantia compete in the Sochi Olympics. I didn’t imagine myself there yet because I was still focused on inline skating (which is not an Olympic sport) and had no plans of switching to speedskating on ice.”
But Jackson made the switch to speedskating not long before the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. And when we say not long, we really mean it…
Switching disciplines in a sport takes talent, but switching sports and then making the Olympic team not long after is beyond incredible. But that’s what Jackson did.
A post shared by Erin Jackson (@speedyj)
After switching to long track speedskating, she entered Team USA’s 2018 Olympic trials with less than five months of experience on the ice and qualified for the Games. She was the first Black woman to make it on the U.S. Olympic long track speedskating team, and at the Pyeongchang Games, she finished 24th in the 500-meter race.
Being No. 1 in the world doesn’t mean you compete flawlessly every time, and after a stumble at U.S. Olympic Trials earlier this month, it looked like Jackson might not make it to her second Olympics.
In Jackson’s 500-meter heat, things were going well until she had a brief slip on the backstretch of the track. It wasn’t enough for her to fall, so she recovered but finished third in a race where only the top-2 finishers were guaranteed trips to Beijing.
Jackson also competed in the 1,000-meter and 1,500-meter races at trials, but didn’t qualify in either.
Erin Jackson and Brittany Bowe (Patrick McDermott-USA TODAY Sports)
However, Jackson finished the 500 behind friend and teammate, Brittany Bowe, who also qualified for the Olympics in the 1,000 and 1,500. So when it looked like Jackson wouldn’t be going to Beijing, Bowe gave up her spot in the 500, opening the door for Jackson to compete at the Olympics.
Afterward, Bowe said Jackson had “earned her spot” by being “absolutely on top of her game now,” and she didn’t think twice about the amazing display of sportsmanship. More via the Associated Press:
“I didn’t want to have this moment without Erin out there. I called her late this morning and said that I wanted to officially give her her spot,” Bowe said. “In my heart, there was never a question.”
Jackson was moved, saying, “I’m just incredibly grateful. Really humbled.”
(Jeffrey Swinger-USA TODAY Sports)
Now that Jackson is officially on the Olympic team, she’s a favorite to win the gold medal in the 500-meter race. What else would you expect with a global No. 1 rank?
Behind Jackson in the per the International Skating Union is Russia’s Angelina Golikova, Japan’s 2018 500 Olympic champ Nao Kodaira and Russia’s Olga Fatkulina.
As NBC Olympics noted, should Jackson win, she’d be the first U.S. woman to win Olympic gold in the 500 since Bonnie Blair in 1994, and she could be the first American woman since 2002 to earn a speedskating medal of any kind.
Speedskating at the 2022 Beijing Olympics begins Feb. 5, and the women’s 500 is set for Feb. 13.
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