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Posts Tagged ‘ice skating’

Beijing 2022: Erin Jackson

Monday, February 21st, 2022
Erin Jackson of USA competing on the 500m during the 2021 ISU World Cup on November 12, 2021 in Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland.  Credit: © Orange Pics BV/Alamy Images

Erin Jackson of USA competing on the 500m during the 2021 ISU World Cup on November 12, 2021 in Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland.
Credit: © Orange Pics BV/Alamy Images

In February 2022, Erin Jackson became the first Black woman to win a medal in speed skating at the Winter Olympics. She won gold in the 50o-meter race in the long-track speed skating event at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Jackson was the first skater representing the United States to win the 500-meter race since 1994. Jackson also joined Shani Davis as the only two Black athletes to medal in Olympic speed skating.
 
Jackson is an American speed skater. Jackson narrowly missed qualifying for Beijing 2022, earning a bronze in two races at the Olympic team trials. She slipped in the 500-meter, the event for which she was ranked number one in the world. Fellow top-ranking speed skater and friend Brittany Bowe qualified for three events. Bowe stepped down in the 500-meter race to give Jackson her spot, sending Jackson to her second Olympic Games.
 
Jackson became the first Black woman to represent the United States in long-track speed skating at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Long-track races are held on an oval 333 1/3 to 400 meters (264 ½ to 437 yards) around. She became the first Black American woman to win a World Cup title for speed skating in 2021. During the 2021-2022 season, Jackson won gold in four World Cup races. She broke the American record, finishing the 500-meter race in 36.80 seconds, at the Salt Lake City World Cup in 2021.
 
Jackson was a top competitor in in-line speed skating and roller derby. In-line skates, sometimes referred to by the trade name Rollerblade, are roller skates with the wheels aligned in a single row. She transitioned to ice speed skating in 2017 to compete in the Olympics. After only four months of training on ice, she made the U.S. National Team.
 
Erin Jackson was born on Sept. 19, 1992, in Ocala, Florida. Jackson began roller skating and figure skating as a child. She began competing on a figure skating team when she was 8 years old. After two years, her coaches moved away, leading her to switch to in-line speed skating in 2002. Jackson joined Inline Team USA in 2008. She competed in the Junior World Championships and Pan American Games in high school. She won gold in the 500-meter race in the 2014 Pan American Games.
 
While attending college, Jackson joined the roller derby team the Ocala Cannibals in 2012. She transferred to a team in Jacksonville, the New Jax City Rollers, in 2013. She competed with the team in the 2015 Women’s Flat Track Derby Association championship. She graduated from the University of Florida in 2015 with a degree in engineering. Jackson has won many in-line skating world championship medals and dozens of national championships.

 

Tags: 2022 winter olympics, beijing, erin jackson, ice skating, roller derby, speed skating, united states
Posted in Current Events, People, Recreation & Sports | Comments Off

First U.S. Gold Medal in Ice Dancing

Tuesday, February 18th, 2014

February 18, 2014

Despite fierce competition from Canadian and Russian figure skaters, Meryl Davis and Charlie White became the first Americans to win a gold medal in ice dancing. Ice dancing combines skating with ballroom dancing. The two University of Michigan students captured the top prize at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, with their energetic and fluid performance to the music Scheherazade (1888) by Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Davis and White had led going into the free dance part of the competition, after the compulsory dance and original dance segments. In all, White and Davis earned the highest point total ever in ice dancing. The two have been skating together for 17 years.

The official flag of the International Olympic Committee displays the Olympic symbol. The symbol consists of five interlocking rings that represent Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas. (World Book illustration)

 

Tags: charlie white, figure skating, ice dancing, ice skating, meryl davis, olympic games, russia, sochi, winter olympic games
Posted in Current Events, People, Recreation & Sports | Comments Off

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