Chris WITTY

Chris Witty has competed at the top levels in both cycling and speed skating. Internationally she competed at the World Junior Championships in speed skating from 1991-94, with little success, placing sixth overall in 1994. Primarily a sprinter, she competed at the World Sprint Championships for the first time in 1994, and in 1996 broke thru to win the World title. In 1998 she won the 1,000 metre gold medal at the World Single Distance Championship. Her 2002 Olympic gold medal in the 1,000, however, in world record time, was a shock as she had had to cut back on her training. This was her fourth world record in the 1,000, in addition to two junior world records she had set, one in the 1,000, and one in the sprint. In 2000 Witty qualified for the Olympic team in cycling, where she placed fifth in the 500 metre time trial. She was chosen by her teammates to carry the US flag at the opening ceremony in Torino in 2006. Shortly before those Olympics, Witty revealed that she had experienced childhood abuse from a trusted neighbor for several years, beginning as a young child, keeping the secret for years, and the trauma of revealing this had affected her training prior to the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

Personal Bests: 500 – 38.36 (2002); 1000 – 1:13.83 (2002); 1500 – 1:55.71 (2002); 3000 – 4:22.57 (1998); 5000 – 7:38.20 (1998); Allround Samalog – 168.851 (1998); Sprint Combination – 152.905 (1999).