2026 Olympic speed skating team set as Pettit Center trials conclude

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Zach Stoppelmoor and Sarah Warren skated their way onto Team USA on the final day of the Olympic long-track speed skating trials Jan. 5 with victories in the 500 meters at the sold-out Pettit National Ice Center.

They’ll be among the team’s five first-time Olympians and 13 in total who will compete next month at the Milan Cortina Games.

2026 U.S. Olympic long track speed skating team

The athletes and their events are:

Ethan Cepuran, Glen Ellyn, Illinois; second Olympics, (mass start, team pursuit)

Casey Dawson, Park City, Utah; second Olympics (1,500 meters, 5,000, 10,000, team pursuit)

Emery Lehman, Oak Park, Illinois; fourth Olympics (1,500, team pursuit)

Conor McDermott-Mostowy, Washington, D.C.; first Olympics (1,000)

Cooper McLeod, Kirkland, Washington; first Olympics (500, 1,000)

Jordan Stolz, Kewaskum; second Olympics (500, 1,000, 1,500, mass start)

Zach Stoppelmoor, West Des Moines, Iowa; first Olympics (500)

Brittany Bowe, Ocala, Florida; fourth Olympics (1,000, 1,500, team pursuit)

Giorgia Birkeland, White Bear Lake, Minnesota; second Olympics (team pursuit)

Erin Jackson, Ocala, Florida; third Olympics (500, 1,000)

Mia Manganello, Crestview, Florida; third Olympics (mass start, team pursuit)

Greta Myers, Lino Lakes, Minnesota; first Olympics (1,500, team pursuit)

Sarah Warren, Willowbrook, Illinois; first Olympics (500)

Here’s a look at what happened in the six races – two mass starts and a second 500 meters for men and women – as the team was set.

Women’s 500

Warren is perseverance personified, having gone through nine surgeries – including the anterior cruciate ligaments in both knees – from her days as a college soccer player through October 2024. Her nickname among trainers, Warren says, is Job Security.

“Honestly, even today, you know, the knee’s pretty temperamental and it kind of slipped weird, and it was pretty painful,” Warren said. “You just know you’re gonna be OK. You know, you can get through it.

“Like you saw up there, it’s tight. It was anyone’s game today. And so I felt good enough, and I knew I just had to bring it.”

Warren knocked two-tenths of a second off her time from her Saturday time, finishing the 1 ¼ lap in 38.663 seconds.

That beat McKenzie Browne’s 39.009 for best of the day. Jackson, the 2022 gold medalist in the 500, opted not to skate on the final day and her time of 38.158 held up as best overall.

At 29, Warren could get another chance in 2030, but she knows as well as anyone that nothing is promised.

“The crying, yes, I dreamed of this since I was a little girl, but in that moment you realize all the sacrifices that everyone has made, it was worth it,” Warren said. “And I got to go and live out my dream. You dream about that race. Final pair, it’s do or die, you have to win, and that’s why we trained.”

Men’s 500

Zach Stoppelmoor races to victory and an Olympic berth in the 500 meters.

Stoppelmoor, skating in the final pair, posted the fastest time of the competition, eclipsing the standard set by Jordan Stolz a day earlier.

“I knew after yesterday’s race the door was still open,” Stoppelmoor said. “That wasn’t by any means a perfect race, and I knew that there was still a lot left on the table after it. And I knew the guys that I’m racing against were very capable of running that time.

“So I was just like, OK, I’ve got to go throw down and skate my race.”

Stoppelmoor finished in 34.661 seconds, ahead of McDermott-Mostowy (34.959) as well as Stolz’s 34.761.

Women’s mass start

Giorgia Birkeland (04) competes in the women’s second mass start at the U.S. Olympic long track speed skating Olympic team trials on the evening of Jan. 5, 2026 at the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Myers and Manganello split the two mass start races. Manganello, who already was qualified, pulled the pack for much of the first 16-lap race and then got out of the way as Myers and Giorgia Birkeland fought for the win.

Then Manganello edged Myers in the second race. Myers had qualified in the 1,500 a day earlier.

Birkeland was disqualified from the first race for an early start and then finished fourth in the second race but still made the Olympics in the country where she was born as a team pursuit specialist.

“It was a super weird day,” Birkeland said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so emotional in my entire life, so I’m super grateful to be named to the team and I’ll make USA proud.

“It was just a lot of uncertainty. I feel like we worked so hard for four years and you just want the moment where you’re like, oh, I made it and you know you’re safe. And so I feel like I finally got that and it was a really nice relief.”

Piper Yde, a 20-year-old 2030 Olympic hopeful from Nashota, capped a fabulous trials weekend with finishes of third in both mass starts. She had finished third in the 1,500 and picked up ninths in the 1,000 and first 500.

“I think I’m more of a racer than maybe a time trial [racer], because I just love competing against people, especially when they’re nearby,” Yde said. “I have more in me than I think I do sometimes, and I don’t know if I’m a sprinter or a middle distance skater or distance skater. We still haven’t figured that one out.”

Men’s mass start

Dawson won the first round and Stolz the second, while Cepuran made the team with finishes of third and second. Cepuran also will join Lehman and Dawson in the team pursuit.

“Another dream, another step toward a dream coming true,” said Cepuran, who also will join Lehman and Dawson in the team pursuit. “[I’m looking forward to] making a statement in the team pursuit for us, just going out there, skating with Casey and Emory as best as we can and just show the world what we’ve got.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 2026 US Olympic speed skating team set as Pettit Center trials finish

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