Ex-FAU star finishes 5th in 1,500 meters
Former basketball player is projected to capture 2 medals.
South Florida isn’t exactly a hotbed of winter sports talent, but don’t tell that to American speedskater Brittany Bowe.
Bowe, 29, a native of Ocala who attended Florida Atlantic University from 2006-10, finished fifth in the women’s 1,500-meter speedskating event in Pyeongchang on Monday. Ireen Wust of the Netherlands, one of the pre-race favorites, took the gold, the fififth of her Olympic career, while Japan’s Miho Takagi won silver and Wust’s teammate Marrit Leenstra picked up bronze.
A four-year starter on the Owls women’s basketball team, Bowe also competed as an inline skater during the summer. But she turned her full-time attention to speedskating in 2010 and represented Team USA at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.
In July 2016, just one season removed from 10 gold medals on the World Cup circuit, a training crash left Bowe with a concussion and a long recovery ahead of her,
one that took far longer than initially expected. But Bowe appears to be back and ready to show that she belongs again. She is expected to race in the 1,000- and 500meter races on Wednesday and Sunday, respectively,
and the Associated Press projects her winning medals in both.
“Ultimately this year, the only thing that matters i s the Olympic Games,” Bowe told the AP before Pyeongchang. “We get one chance every four years to prove ourselves.”