Brittany Bowe, U.S. speed skating’s North Star, is ready for her Olympic finale

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MILWAUKEE — Brittany Bowe is preparing for her fourth trip to the Winter Olympics as a member of the United States women’s speed skating team, which means she’s going to get asked a lot about her age throughout her time in Milan.

Because on Feb. 24 — two days after the closing ceremonies — Bowe turns 38. “Hopefully,” she said, “I’ll be able to have a big birthday celebration. It could be the best birthday of my life. But no plans. I’m hoping to have success at the Olympics and celebrate that success, whatever that looks like.”

What might it look like? Bowe will be competing in three events — 1,000-meter, 1,500-meter, team pursuit — and it would be quite the accomplishment if she could plop a medal or two on the table while blowing out the candles on the cake.

Then, there’s the fact that Bowe’s partner, Hilary Knight, will be competing in the Olympics as a member of the U.S. women’s hockey team. That’s one more medal that could be part of the celebration.

However things turn out next month, Bowe’s 38th birthday will coincide with another passage in her life, one dripping with anticipation and, perhaps, a dose of poignancy. Bowe will come away from Milan as a retired Olympic speed skater, something she’s known as far back as 2022, when she competed in the Beijing Games.

But it would be a mistake for anyone to say that Bowe will then step into a new role as speed skating ambassador. That’s because she’s been that all along. More than being a star — among her many accomplishments, she owns Olympic bronze in the 1,000 (2022) and team pursuit (2018) — Bowe is U.S. speed skating’s North Star. Younger skaters turn to her when they want to know the way.

To illustrate Bowe’s leadership skills, consider a question that was directed at her during the U.S. Olympic trials last weekend in Milwaukee. Asked about mentoring young athletes, it took her fewer than 25 words to pivot to fellow Olympian and longtime friend Erin Jackson.

“It’s just something my parents instilled in me at such a young age, and I can say the same thing about Erin,” Bowe said. “The way she goes about races, the way she goes about races that don’t go well, really inspires me. And I know those are few and far between for her, but the way that she just carries herself in each race that doesn’t go well is a learning lesson.”

Again, this was in response to a question about Bowe’s mentoring skills. And yet she turned it into a stump speech for Jackson.

Emery Lehman, who is just 29 but will be competing in his fourth Olympics (1,500, team pursuit) and then doing his own retiring, is quite starry-eyed when talking about Bowe.

“When I joined the team when I was a kid, she was one of the stars, and she’s still a star,” Lehman said. “Having her around is like having the rock of the team there. She is really intense … but she keeps the light and is a phenomenal leader. She’s going to be missed a lot.”

It was Bowe, during the U.S. trials in 2022, who gave up her Olympic spot in the 500 to Jackson after her fellow native of Ocala, Fla., took a slip and failed to qualify for Beijing. Jackson went on to win a gold medal, the first Black woman to win an individual gold medal in the Winter Olympics.

It was Bowe, just a couple of days ago, who stepped up as leader of the Greta Myers Defense Campaign after Myers accidentally made contact with her during the 1,500 at the trials. Before Myers returned to the ice for a re-skate, Bowe told her to “re-focus and get this re-skate in.” Because, Bowe said later, “there’s no question she deserves that second starting position in the Olympics.”

Myers went out and skated her way to that second spot. She’ll join Bowe in the 1,500 for Team USA.

Bowe doesn’t sound like some teary-eyed sentimentalist who’s going to miss competitive skating, though miss it she surely will. It’s just that she somehow combines a fierce competitiveness (she talks often about that) with a public face that suggests matter-of-factness, and it’s tough to walk those two roads at once.

As Bowe put it earlier this week, “It doesn’t change my thinking. I’m just really focused on, ‘OK, what do we have to do tomorrow to be the best-prepared for Italy?’ I’m going to jump on a plane, get back home a day early, start recovering so I can get back to training, because we’re less than a month away now and really, really have to be diligent and focused on being fit, being healthy, illness prevention, really trying to control all the controllables and get to Milan ready to go.”

Having long ago decided to retire, Bowe is now mulling a short-term decision: The gold-medal game in women’s hockey will be played the night before Bowe competes in the 1,500. Team USA, captained by Knight, may well be playing in that game.

“Now you’re going to make me cry,” Bowe told a gathering of reporters. “I don’t know. I would love to get there, but I don’t know at this point. My heart tells me one thing, and what’s right or wrong might be the other thing. But nonetheless, my family will definitely be there. TBD if I will be there, but I really hope to be.”

Bowe said that Knight is trying “to nudge me, she wants me in the stands.” And yet: “At the end of the day, we both know we have to be best for each other. But it would be great to celebrate her gold medal the night before I have a chance to win one myself. It’s been a really fun journey the past four years, to be able to celebrate each other’s accomplishments.

“It’s been fun for me to be a fan, to be able to go to different Team USA events and not be the one stressed out about having to compete,” Bowe continued. “Being able to be a fan is a new role I’ve been able to take on here, but it’s been so much fun to be able to do this together.”

Whatever she decides, however all this plays out, “just to be able to go out on my own terms is a victory,” Bowe said. “And to be able to have a long and very successful career is a blessing, for sure.”

It’s being said, over and over and over, that the United States has assembled one of its best-ever speed skating teams. If things play out as hoped for, look for lots of celebrating by Team USA next month.

And no small amount of tears as Brittany Bowe keeps the promise she made to herself four years ago in Beijing.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Olympics, Global Sports, Women's Olympics

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