This Speedskater Wants Olympic Redemption After Her Dreams Were Shattered In 2022 - Beritaja

For years, Kristen Santos-Griswold couldn’t moreover bring herself to watch the video of what happened.

Heading into the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Santos-Griswold was the second-ranked short way speedskater successful the world. And heading into the last thigh of the women’s 1,000-meter final, Santos-Griswold was successful position to triumph her first Olympic medal, skating successful 3rd spot and fighting for second, until she was bumped by Italy’s Arianna Fontana.

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The collision sent the 2 skaters crashing into a wall. Instead of a decorativeness connected the podium, Santos-Griswold fell to 4th place. Fontana’s bump was later ruled a penalty, but the consequence was still group successful stone.

Santos-Griswold and Fontana autumn during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.Matthew Stockman / Getty Images file

The nonaccomplishment took an affectional toll. Santos-Griswold, 31, moreover considered retiring truthful she could attraction connected school. But she decided not to measurement away, and now she’s competing in the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics to triumph the badge that eluded her 4 years earlier.

“I’ve been an affectional wreck up and down,” Santos-Griswold admitted to Beritaja successful the lead-up to the Olympics. “That's thing that I'm moving connected the most, it's my intelligence game. In this sport, it could beryllium truthful unforgiving.”

Part of Santos-Griswold’s intelligence process heading into Milan was yet watching her fateful title from 2022, thing she couldn’t bring herself to do until past year. Santos-Griswold said she was frightened to look what had happened because it felt for illustration a failure. Instead, watching the clang proved cathartic.

“It was decidedly therapeutic and helped maine move connected from it,” Santos-Griswold said. “Watching it now, it conscionable makes maine that overmuch much proud that I'm present competing coming and I'm going for it again. I’m hoping that I could study from that experience, not make immoderate of the aforesaid mistakes, person a amended consequence this adjacent time, but besides much importantly, bask it much this adjacent time.”

Following the race, Santos-Griswold wasn’t judge if she wanted to travel backmost for different Olympics. She contemplated focusing connected postgraduate schoolhouse entirely, wherever she's studying for a doctorate successful beingness therapy. Stephen Gough, the caput coach for U.S. short way speedskating, wanted to springiness Santos-Griswold the abstraction to make her ain decision, but he did person a connection for her erstwhile they chatted aft Beijing.

“When we spoke, I was like, ‘It’s about to commencement being really fun,’” Gough recalled. “It’s not going to beryllium easy, but you’re successful a spot wherever you could triumph medals. And why wouldn’t you thrust this wave? Because erstwhile you extremity skating, it’s each over.”

Santos-Griswold chose to enactment connected the ice, and existent to Gough’s words, she sewage better.

At the Four Continents Short Track Speed Skating Championships successful November 2023, she won golden successful the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 meters. Then, during the 2024-25 ISU Short Track World Tour, Santos-Griswold won 4 much individual golds. She was the tour’s wide champion and won the Crystal Globe arsenic tour’s champion wide skater.

Though a surgery collarbone and different injuries slowed Santos-Griswold down during the latest world circuit season, Gough is pleased pinch wherever she is headed into Milan.

“[The injuries] allowed her an opportunity to refocus her training, and everything snapped into spot really fast. So she's successful a bully place,” Gough said. “I don't cognize that she's reasoning excessively overmuch about 4 years ago. Given what she's been done successful the past eight, 9 months, it's helped her attraction connected the correct stuff, which is her preparation, her tactics, the things that are wrong her control.”

When Santos-Griswold takes her starting position successful Italy, it will beryllium the continuation — and possibly the culmination — of a travel that began erstwhile she was only 3 years old. That was erstwhile Santos-Griswold began fig skating, making being connected the crystal 2nd nature. (“I don’t moreover retrieve learning really to skate,” Santos-Griswold admitted.)

When she was 8, Santos-Griswold learned about speedskating because of a commercialized she saw while watching the Disney Channel. She begged her mom to motion her up and yet wore her down. She began speedskating astatine an crystal rink adjacent to Yale University’s campus, often competing against men respective times her age.

“I was a very competitory kid. Where fig skating is much of a judged sport, I liked this conception of beating personification to a decorativeness line,” Santos-Griswold said. “And I conscionable fell successful love. I deliberation I loved the conception of beating these aged guys and being faster than them.”

In Milan, Santos-Griswold is eager to person her family successful the stands, a support strategy she didn’t person during the Beijing Games. (Her classmates and 2 dogs, Bear and Koda, will beryllium watching from backmost successful the States.)

She besides plans to employment a different mindset — specifically, worrying little about the things she can’t control, for illustration the bump that robbed her of a badge 4 years ago, and alternatively making judge she appreciates her Olympic experience.

“The past Olympics, I was truthful hyperfocused connected each event, being nervous, sitting successful my room, fundamentally shaking waiting for a title to travel up, moreover though I felt physically ready,” Santos-Griswold said astatine a pre-race news conference. “It didn’t spell my measurement and it was truthful overmuch wasted power reasoning about races and what to do that I missed the acquisition and fto it really walk by. So I’m trying to move that a batch and bask each day, not really deliberation about the racing until it’s clip to race. Just do my best.”