500 metres, Women

The women’s 500 m was one of the fairy tales that the Olympic sometimes produce. US skater Erin Jackson is a former inline speed skater, having won seven medals at World Championships in the sport. After trying ice speed skating for the first time in 2016, she seriously converted the following year. After only a few months in the sport, she qualified for the 2018 Olympics, where she finished in 24th place in the 500 m.

At the 2019 Worlds, she improved to 15th and then was seventh at the 2020 edition. Choosing not to attend the “COVID bubble” of Heerenveen in 2021, she emerged as one of the surprises when the World Cups resumed with a full field in the 2021/22 season. She won the first three World Cup races of the season, adding a fourth in Salt Lake City, as well as two more podium finishes.

These performances made Jackson one of the pre-Games favorites, but she still had to place among the top two at the US Olympic Trials. Midway through her race, she had an unusual miss-stroke, briefly losing pace and finishing in third. Normally, this would have cost her a spot at the Olympic Games, but teammate Brittany Bowe, who had won the trial race, decided to give up her spot. Long-time friend Bowe, like Jackson, hailed from the Florida town of Ocala, and both had learned inline speed skating there as children.

Although Bowe’s gesture ultimately had no effect on herself (she was allowed to skate the 500 m after the US was granted a third quota spot), the action was widely praised, including naturally by Jackson herself.

In Beijing, Jackson produced a fitting conclusion to her journey. Racing in the penultimate pair, she clocked 37.04, good enough for a gold medal. This made her the first female Black skater to become Olympic champion, and only the second Black skater after Shani Davis. Joining her on the podium were the surprising Miho Takagi, who had earlier won silver in the 1,500 m, and 2021 World Champion Angelina Golikova. Plagued by back injuries earlier in the season, 2019 World Champion Vanessa Herzog recorded a second consecutive fourth place. With her victory Jackson also became the first Black individual gold medalist at the Winter Olympics, in any sport.