USA's Joey Mantia an Olympic medallist - at last!
The 36-year-old speed skater helped USA to team pursuit bronze on his third Games appearance.
Speed Skating
Joey Mantia couldn't help but jump on the trend at Beijing 2022.
Days after fellow U.S. Olympic veteran Nick Baumgartner won his first medal at the Olympics in his fourth appearance, speed skater Mantia, 36, joined him on Tuesday (15 February) by helping USA to team pursuit bronze.
The Americans defeated Netherlands in the B Final to take the last spot on the podium.
“I feel like now I can just breathe," said Mantia. "The Olympics is such an amplifier. When you are on, it amplifies that and when you are not quite on, it amplifies that. So it creates this big gap between who’s on and who’s not.”
Beijing is Mantia's third appearance at the Games. His previous best finish was fourth in the men's 1000m four years ago at PyeongChang 2018.
Having claimed multiple world titles in inline roller skating, Mantia - who turned 36 last week - made the switch to ice and won the first of three mass start world titles in 2017.
But an Olympic medal had eluded him up to this point.
"It feels so good to put so much into the season," he said. "In the last couple of years, we are focusing on this plan. With our strategy, the helmets, pretty much every detail we try to tidy up, come in and to walk away as medallists.”
He's not the only inline skater in the U.S. squad to find success in speed skating with 500m gold medallist Erin Jackson and Brittany Bowe taking the same path.
All three were born and raised in Ocala, Florida, and all three were coached in inline by Renee Hildebrand who, Mantis says, first opened his eyes to Olympic possibilities.
“I don’t know when I first thought I could go to the Olympics,” Mantia said. “It was my coach [Hildebrand] who was telling me I could do it long before I ever thought so.”
Now, he's proven he can also reach the Olympic podium.