Olympic gold medalist Erin Jackson is back at the Pettit in Milwaukee, skating where a tiny slip began a fairytale year
The slip itself is packed away deep in a corner of Erin Jackson’s brain.
Memories of the chain of events set off one year ago by that rare misstep on the Pettit Center oval, though, run frequently through the speedskater’s mind.
A tiny mistake in the 500 meters in the Olympic Trials left Jackson all but locked out of the Games, but then longtime friend Brittany Bowe graciously gave up her spot, Jackson repaid her by winning gold in Beijing, Bowe medaled in the 1,000 and the time since has been a whirlwind of celebrations, travel and welcome rest.
So when the U.S. team came back to Milwaukee in September for a training camp, Jackson said, she didn’t give a thought to what had happened in her previous visit.
“I just remember telling one of my teammates, like, man, it’s nice to be back at the Pettit,” Jackson said. “I just love skating here.”
This week she is back again, this time for the U.S. Championships.
The event will have an entirely different vibe from the Trials, with COVID restrictions no longer in place and fans able to watch the top stars up close.
Races begin Thursday morning – with the 500 up first at 9:30 – and run through Sunday. Admission is free.
In addition to Jackson, one of the most popular skaters will be Jordan Stolz, the 18-year-old rising star from Kewaskum. Stolz set two Pettit Center records during the Trials. In November, he became the youngest winner on the speedskating World Cup circuit when he won the 1,500 at the season opener in Stavanger, Norway.
“He’s a phenomenal skater,” Jackson said. “It was really exciting to watch him skate and kind of see the future of this sport in the U.S.”
The approach for many athletes at the Pettit will be just as different from last year’s Trials as the atmosphere in the Pettit will.
The urgency of the Olympics is past. In a sport so geared to the quadrennial event, athletes train in cycles and with different agendas. Young skaters may be using these races to prove themselves; veterans could be working on specific techniques or strategies.
“(When) I ended up getting on the podium in Calgary at World Cup 4, I was telling my coach the podium was great but I don’t really judge myself on whether I get on the podium or not, it’s more like the race felt good to me, if I felt like I nailed the things I was working on,” Jackson said. “So yeah, that’s how I am about every race, and this one’s the same. I just have some personal goals outside of podiums.
“Making sure … I’m technically skating well, having good corner entries, good corner exits, all the basic things. The reason why I’m kind of focusing on that now is I haven’t been as technically solid as I have been the past two years, so that’s what I’m trying to get back to.”
Some of Jackson’s technical issues can be traced to her time after the Olympics, when the demands placed on a champion kept her far from the ice and when she was able to enjoy some time off.
But the time since Beijing has not been all play for the 30-year-old Jackson. She found time to return to her inline roots – that’s how she met Bowe in their hometown of Ocala, Florida – at the World Skate Games and came away with a gold and a silver.
“I went directly from the world championships in Argentina and less than a week later I was competing on ice in Norway,” Jackson said. “So it was a pretty quick turnaround, and my travel was delayed 24 hours, so I missed another day of ice preparation. We made the best of it and got through the first World Cups with some inline technique still in there.”
Inline skaters’ strides are shorter and choppier, and Jackson has seen in video of her recent races how she needs to be lower with more weight on her toes rather than her heels.
Races at this point in the Olympic cycle provide an opportunity to work out kinks in her technique. While she may not be at her peak, Jackson has been the highest-finishing American skater in the women’s 500 meters in the four World Cup meets this season.
“Sometimes it can be a bit of trial and error, and I guess I have a bit of room to make some errors this weekend,” Jackson said. “I’ll probably take that opportunity to play around with some things.”
She undoubtedly will be reminded about the Trials a few more times this week too. That won’t bother Jackson at all.
Her lasting memory is not of one moment in time but of the unbelievable 12 months that have followed.
“It was kind of like a fairytale ending,” Jackson said.
“I’ve just said how nice it was to get a feel-good story out of everything. Because it’s just nice for people to see what a good human Brittany is and she’d be willing to do something so big for a friend and a teammate. It was definitely great overall, for a number of reasons.”
Long Track Speedskating U.S. Championships
(Times approximate)
THURSDAY
9:30 a.m. to 1:45 pm: women’s and men’s 500 #1, women’s 3,000, men’s 5,000, junior C men’s 3,000
FRIDAY
9:30 a.m to 12:45 pm: women’s and men’s 500 #2, women’s and men’s 1,500
SATURDAY
9:30 a.m. to 12:50 p.m.: women’s and men’s 1,000, women’s 5,000, men’s 10,000, junior women and men’s team pursuit
SUNDAY
9 a.m. to 11 a.m.: elimination mass start, women’s and men’s 16-lap mass start
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Olympic speedskating gold medalist Erin Jackson back at Pettit Center
