Ocala native Brittany Bowe led her fellow Team USA speedskaters to a fourth place finish in the Women’s Team Pursuit event at the Olympics on Tuesday, coming up just shy of the podium with another stellar effort.
Bowe and her American teammates (Mia Manganello and Greta Myers) finished the event on Tuesday with a time of 3:02.00, coming up just over three seconds behind Team Japan, which claimed Bronze in the event.
Team Canada claimed gold with a time of 2:55.81 and Team Netherlands claimed silver with a time of 2:56.77. In an interview after the race, Bowe and her teammates reflected on the ups and downs of the finish.
“On one hand, your disappointed, because you want that Olympic medal. And we all four wanted it equally as bad, and unfortunately, only three [teams] get it,” said Bowe. She went on to emphasize that she was proud of the team’s accomplishments in her final Olympics.
“So we’re not on the good side this time, but it doesn’t take away from what we’ve been able to accomplish this year. All four of us have skated new national records. We placed highest than we ever had in the World Cup with a silver medal. Yeah, it’s sad, it’s a little disappointing, but we want to try to continue to reflect on the remarkable season and what we’ve done this year.”
Bowe closed her comments by saying that she and her team members would persevere and that the next time they touch the ice, they expect a different outcome.
“Being an athlete can be the best thing, it can be the hardest thing. But it’s all a matter of picking yourself back up,” said Bowe. “You’ve got to compartmentalize sometimes, and of course we’ll share somewhat of this disappointment together. And then we’ll sleep on it, and you know, us three, we’ve gotta get back to it and pretend like this never happened because that’ll only bring you down. So we’re going to get a medal here the next time we touch the ice.”
With the Team Pursuit event behind her, Bowe will now set her sights on the Womens’ Speedskating 1500m race. The final for that race will air on Friday, February 20, starting at 3:30 p.m. Follow live coverage on NBC or Peacock.
Despite missing the podium in their four combined races, Bowe and her fellow Ocala native teammate Erin Jackson have delivered strong performances at the 2026 Winter Games in Italy.
Over the weekend, Jackson finished in fifth place in the 500m race in which she claimed gold in 2022.
Bowe finished fourth and Jackson finished sixth in the 1,000-meter event, with the latter having never competed in that distance at the Olympic level.
Jackson also had the honor of being one of the few Olympians selected to carry the American flag during the opening ceremony.
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