MILAN — The best way to redeem a terrible Olympics? Win a medal on the way out the door.
Team USA’s Corinne Stoddard claimed a short track speedskating bronze medal in the women’s 1,500 meters with a time of 2:32.578 in a stellar finals performance Friday at the Milano Ice Skating Arena. The medal marked an end to what had been an extremely frustrating Olympics for Stoddard, who had struggled in her individual events and failed to come close to a medal at all in any event, individual or relay.
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South Korea’s Kim Gilli (2:32.076) and Choi Minjeong (2:32.450) took gold and silver, respectively.
Stoddard led for almost the entire race, only surrendering the lead to Kim and Choi in the race’s final laps. Stoddard managed to hold off China’s Jingru Yang and Italy’s Arianna Fontana as she came to the line to claim her first Olympic medal. The difference between a bronze medal and a finish off the podium: 0.135 seconds.
“I led more than I would have liked,” Stoddard said. “I knew I probably couldn’t win with how much I had led, but I knew I could stay on the podium, so I just tried to defend my spot and stay on the podium.”
The race was not unlike a NASCAR race or a Tour de France, where the leader is in the worst position to win late because they’ve been carving the air for the following pack. But fortunately for her medal chances, Stoddard was finally able to keep from falling back in the pack.
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“I think the pressure of the Olympics was just getting to me, and the fear of not going the way I know how to,” Stoddard said after her race. “But I knew going into this Olympics I had a chance to win multiple medals … So today was just to prove to myself that I can skate under a lot of pressure.”
A two-time Olympian, Stoddard’s best finish prior to this race was seventh place in the 1,000m in Beijing in 2022. She also owns a world championship silver medal in the 3,000m relay and world championship bronzes in 1,500m and mixed team relay.
Stoddard had struggled in the Milan Cortina Olympics prior to the 1,500m. She finished eighth in both the 3,000m relay and the mixed team relay. In her individual events, she finished 24th in the 1,000m and 31st in the 500m. She suffered multiple falls and, she said Friday, substantial online abuse as a result.
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But an Instagram post she made earlier this week gained approving comments from figures as diverse as Snoop Dogg, Team USA speedskater Brittney Bowe, and speedskating legend Apolo Ohno:
“I feel like every race before this one, I was trying way too hard, going 110% instead of 95%,” she said, “and that just inevitably makes you crash, makes you slip, makes you just not skate like yourself.”
Just in the nick of time — on the final race of the slate — she found her groove.
“That’s a great way to end such a terrible Olympics and also confidence going into four years from now,” she said. “When I get to France, I know I can do this.”
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