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It’s official! The Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games are returning to Utah in 2034. The International Olympic Committee made the call on July 24. In this episode of Last Chair, we’ll explore the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, looking at a few venues outside of the traditional skiing and snowboarding realm.
A serpentine sliding track, used for bobsled, skeleton and luge, at the Utah Olympic Park winds its way down the hill. (Photo by Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation)
With all of the 2002 Olympic venues still in place and operating, the 2034 edition will require no permanent venue construction. The IOC welcomed this sustainable approach. In 2034, around a dozen venues will be used—all within an hour’s drive of the Athlete Village on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City.
The caretaker of many of the venues is the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation. President and CEO Colin Hilton talks about the Utah Olympic Park, with its bobsled, skeleton, and luge sliding track, as well as the towering ski jumps. Hilton also oversaw the assembling of all venues for the 2034 bid and will give an overview of what we can expect.
Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation President and CEO Colin Hilton Stands with benefactor Spence Eccles in front of the Spence Eccles Olympic Training Pool (Photo by Tom Kelly)
One of the most popular Olympic sports today is biathlon – an unusual combination of cross country skiing and marksmanship. Utah native Vincent Bonacci, a member of the U.S. Biathlon Team, will talk about the sport, its uniqueness and why the Soldier Hollow Nordic Center is such a vital venue.
U.S. Biathlon athlete and Utah Native Vincent Bonacci skis during the World Cup at Soldier Hollow.
We’ll then head to the sliding track at the Utah Olympic Park – known as one of the fastest in the world. Utah native Kaysha Love will talk about how she went from a top-tier high school and collegiate sprinter to becoming one of the best bobsledders in the world in just a few years.
Finally, we’ll talk about winning Olympic gold with 500m long-track speedskating star Erin Jackson. A Florida native, Jackson talks about her transition from inline skating to ice, tells the story about her improbable journey to Beijing to win gold and relates (with a smile) her weekend ski experience at Deer Valley Resort.
Listen to the latest Last Chair Podcast to learn more about this exciting announcement!
Transcript
Tom Kelly: |00:00:00| Hello skiers and riders, and welcome back to Last Chair the Ski Utah Podcast. I'm your host, Tom Kelly. And yes, it is summertime in Utah with just a little bit of snow still clinging to the ridgelines on the high alpine peaks a big summer. Welcome to our friends Pixie and the Partygrass Boys, one of Utah's favorite bands. And let's give a big shout-out to our friends at High West, Utah's first legal distillery since 1870. High West is passionate about crafting delicious and distinctive whiskeys and helping people appreciate whiskey, all in the context of our home right here in the American West. When you're in Utah, visit one of High West's locations in Park City and nearby Wanship. Well, it's been over 100 degrees this July in Salt Lake City. Wildflowers are blooming all over the Wasatch, but it's just four months until the ski season begins again. We're coming to you this July with a special edition of Last Chair. As most of the world knows, the Summer Olympic Games are just getting underway in Paris and what a magnificent show it's going to be. And while it's the Summer Games, one of the agenda items for the International Olympic Committee was selecting the host sites for the 2030 and the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
Tom Kelly: |00:01:26| It's been an especially exhilarating time for all of us here in Utah. As on July 24th, the IOC formally selected Salt Lake City, Utah, as the site of the 2034 Winter Games. That's right, the Olympics are coming back to Utah. Utah presented a very compelling pitch to the IOC with a sustainable plan featuring no new venue, construction and all events within an hour of a single athlete village at the University of Utah. A lot has changed since 2002, when the games were last here, with a round of 40% increase expected in the number of events by 2034. This time around, all alpine ski racing events are set for Snowbasin Resort near Ogden. Deer Valley Resort will play host to freestyle moguls and aerials. Park City Mountain will have slopestyle, halfpipe and more. And there will also be a growing number of events at the Utah Olympic Park. For this edition of Last Share, we thought we would go beyond the traditional ski resorts and introduce you to some of the other venues around the region through some of the athletes who will be competing. We'll start it out today with the president and CEO of the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, Colin Hilton. Colin is a veteran of the 2002 Winter Games, and today his organization operates the Utah Olympic Park in Park City, Soldier Hollow in the Heber Valley, and the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns down in the Salt Lake Valley.
Tom Kelly: |00:03:00| We'll then take a look at the burgeoning sport of biathlon with local national team star Vincent Bonucci. He'll give us insights on what makes Soldier Hollow such a valuable venue, and what it takes to get into biathlon. Then we'll head to the sliding track at the Utah Olympic Park with Olympic bobsledder and Utah native Kaisha Love. It's exhilarating to go down that track, and then we'll wrap things up, learning about the fastest ice on earth at the Utah Olympic Oval with Olympic gold medalist speed skater Erin Jackson. It should be an exciting look at one of the only Olympic sites in the world, with every venue up and operating and within just a single hour of the athlete village. Now as we catch up with Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation President and CEO Colin Hilton celebrating the return of the Winter Games to Utah today. Last Chair is with Colin Hilton, the president and CEO of the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation. And Colin, thanks for joining us on Last Chair.
Colin Hilton: |00:04:03| Happy to be here, Tom.
Tom Kelly: |00:04:05| Celebratory time. The games are coming back to Utah.
Colin Hilton: |00:04:09| I am so excited with the this news. I mean, we've only been at this for about ten years, but, uh, it's finally happened and we're just thrilled. I'm thrilled for all of the the staff of our Legacy Foundation, all of the young people that are at our venues, they're just going to have a great 10-year run up here to to these Games.
Tom Kelly: |00:04:31| You know, it has been a long process. The games were in Utah in 2002, so it's been 22 years since then, and this bid effort has been going on in earnest for over a decade now. Right?
Colin Hilton: |00:04:42| It has been, I mean, ever, ever since we knew we were a great candidate to host again. We've been preparing and and we're really hopeful for this a little bit sooner. But, um, I've really accepted the fact that this 2034 is really the great, uh, a great, uh, ten year period for us to build up to.
Tom Kelly: |00:05:04| Yeah. So we have like nine and a half years before the games come. So a lot of time to build some excitement, enthusiasm and so forth. One of the things that was really vital in Salt Lake getting this bid was the fact that all of the venues are in place now. You work with all of the different venues, you manage some of them yourself, and we're going to talk more about that. But how important was it to present this sustainable plan of reusing all of the venues from 2002?
Colin Hilton: |00:05:30| I think this is what the Olympic movement needs. It needs a return to places that have these facilities already existing, that they're being very well used and they've got a vibrant energy of sport community behind them.
Tom Kelly: |00:05:48| Yeah, it really it really is cool. And, you know, having lived here in Utah for quite a few years now and having seen this growth, it really has changed the culture here. Let's talk about what you do or what your organization is, the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation. This was another one of those great, uh, uh, pieces that came out of the games and actually was formed even before the games. So this legacy that we talk about, these venues that still exist, that actually was a plan going into 2002. And now here we are. It really worked.
Colin Hilton: |00:06:19| Well. I feel very honored to be heading up the Legacy Foundation. And we have almost, uh, just over 600 employees between the three venues and the foundation, and I think it is a real testament of getting the award of these games to the vision that people had back in the late 80s, early 90s about not just putting on a three-week sporting event and doing it well in 2002, but thinking about how to maintain and operate these facilities afterward.
Tom Kelly: |00:06:52| Let's talk a little bit about the venues that you manage. You have three primary venues and talk a little bit about them. And then we'll dive into more detail later.
Colin Hilton: |00:07:01| Sure. Um, three, uh, legacy venues and three very distinctly different Utah communities in the Heber Valley. We have the Soldier Hollow Nordic Center, where we have programs in cross country skiing and biathlon. Uh, we have the Utah Olympic Park in Park City, which is home to, uh, ski jumping, Nordic jumping, Nordic combined. Uh alpine training. Freestyle aerials. Moguls training. Um, and then down at, uh, the Olympic Oval in Kearns. We've got all sorts of ice programs, from speed skating to hockey to figure skating.
Tom Kelly: |00:07:39| Now we're a ski podcast, so lots of skiers and snowboarders are listening. Three Utah ski resorts are involved in the games and you want to talk about those. Park City, Deer Valley and Snowbasin.
Colin Hilton: |00:07:50| Absolutely. All were great partners in 02 and are going to be just phenomenal partners again when we host in 2034 for Park City Mountain. Uh, we're going to do freestyle and snowboard events. Uh, uh, slopestyle, half pipe and maybe some others. Uh, at Deer Valley, of course. Uh, their regular stop for freestyle aerials and moguls. And we'll do that, uh, for the Olympic Games in 34. Um, and at Snowbasin, uh, a little bit of twist. We're going to do all the alpine events at Snowbasin, both the technical and the speed events.
Tom Kelly: |00:08:27| Going back to 2002. One of the real signature events was the downhill and the downhill that was constructed at Snowbasin, both for the men and the women. Different downhills, absolutely incredible courses. So we're going to see those courses again in 2034.
Colin Hilton: |00:08:43| Absolutely. And they're going to be just as phenomenal as they were back in 2002. And I think there's a real excitement in the community about bringing that back online as a speed venue, so looking forward to that for sure.
Tom Kelly: |00:08:58| And as far as Deer Valley Resort goes, I think all of us here in Utah we look forward to that freestyle World Cup. The Olympics really bred quite a culture for freestyle skiing at Deer Valley Resort. Tell us about that event.
Colin Hilton: |00:09:11| Well, we've always, uh, had a great partnership, both from, um, what really is the training venues in the summer and a little bit in the winter for these freestyle, aerial and mogul athletes. And we, you know, Deer Valley is just the perfect partner to have as a showcase event every winter to, to do these World Cups. And they've done a couple of world championships as well. So, uh, we do a lot to partner with them. Um, we send staff over to help them with their major event, and, uh, I couldn't, couldn't ask for a better partner in them. And with Park City and their new ownership team. Um, we are just excited to explore the possibilities of, uh, how slopestyle and, um, uh, half pipe events are going to, uh, to, to be done there again. And uh, uh, just amazing partners, uh, Deidra and her staff there are amazing and, uh, uh, can't wait to get into the details of planning this in a few years.
Tom Kelly: |00:10:20| Well, let's head down to Soldier Hollow in the Heber Valley. This was a venue to go back to. 2002 turned out to be one of the most spectator-friendly venues. Lots of activities going on down there. That venue has been in continual use. It's been expanded and upgraded. That will be the site of the cross country, the biathlon and Nordic combined cross country. Tell us about that venue and particularly how this continued use has helped to really keep that venue up to speed.
Colin Hilton: |00:10:50| Soldier Hollow, um, in 2002 actually, uh, hosted the cross country and biathlon venue at the same location. That hasn't occurred since 2002. So we're going to bring back this notion of, uh, a lot of the services in a common finish area with the biathlon finish area on one side of, uh, um, all this finish area, uh, temporary overlay and the cross country and the other side. And, um, you know, there's a little angst, if you will, in the FIS and IBU worlds to how that will exactly work. But, um, uh, we just see this as a perfect thing to do, and it's what we do every day. So we're, we host, um, major events in biathlon and cross-country skiing and Nordic combined on a regular basis. Uh. The facility has been maintained to a world class level, and, uh, we are just thrilled that the world will come back to a place that is busy every day.
Tom Kelly: |00:11:58| We, uh, later in the podcast, we're going to be talking to biathlete Vincent Bernacchi from Utah. He is an outstanding young athlete. One of the things that has intrigued me in recent years, and I started my career in cross country skiing, and I remember and this is going back a long time, but going back to the 1980 Olympics, where the cross country skiers would kind of head out in the woods and they'd come back maybe, uh, an hour later, and it really wasn't so much a great spectator sport. The venue at Soldier Hollow is really spectator-friendly, and the sports have evolved to biathlon cross country. How is this for spectators now? I mean, it's much different than it used to be.
Colin Hilton: |00:12:38| One of the wonderful things is the views that Soldier Hollow allows sort of our, you know, high mountain desert geography here allows spectators at the finish and start lines to actually see the athletes as they go through the the trail network. Um, for biathlon, they've adapted biathlon to be very spectator and TV-friendly, where the ski trails are much tighter and closer to the start and finish areas and the biathlon range. And then we just finished a major renovation of our competition management building at the finish area that has beautiful decks and views for spectators to see the athletes as they compete all through the ski course.
Tom Kelly: |00:13:27| Yeah, it's going to be fun to be down there. Let's go down to the Salt Lake Valley, the Utah Olympic Oval. This was one of those venues that was built for 2002. It's been in continual use. We're going to talk to Erin Jackson in just a few minutes. She's the gold medalist from Beijing in the 500m. But one of the things I want to ask her, and I think you're going to be able to give us a little bit more science. It's known as having the fastest ice on earth. What makes the fastest ice on Earth here in Utah?
Colin Hilton: |00:13:54| There's a lot of variables behind that. And my team down there, led by Todd Porter, he and Shane are ice Meister, if you will, um, take meticulous care to have the building really clean. You might have seen many ice rinks that are kind of grungy and dirty. We are meticulous on how we keep it very clean. We purify the water and we layer the ice when we make it in a particular way. That really optimizes the performance of the athletes on ice. Another variable that's positive for us is that we have a little over 4800ft of elevation where our ice is. And that allows the skaters at higher altitude to be a little less, um, having air resistance for them. So the combination of these factors allows for the best times. And we see it every World Cup where pretty much every athlete is having a personal best if they're at the peak of their prime, and it's very satisfying for them, and they love to come to Utah to have these competitions.
Tom Kelly: |00:15:07| One of the cool behind-the-scenes stories, and you see this in alpine skiing with the folks who make the snow, the people who make the snow for the half pipes. Talk a little bit more about your ice masters and kind of the black magic they put into this and the passion that they've got for providing the athletes with this fast ice.
Colin Hilton: |00:15:27| They, um, it is a science, and they take pride in making sure there isn't even a speck of dirt that would throw off a blade on the ice. And so we have, uh, our sport director in Derek Parra down there that, you know, nobody crosses the oval ice ever. You go down under to the tunnel and, um, you have a very meticulous process of how the Zamboni uses hot water to, to melt the ice before it freezes. And it's, it's something that they've got so good at that we actually have our teams at the Oval go to pretty much every Winter games and help with the preparation of ice at their speed skating ovals, whether it's going to be in Milan, Cortina or France again in 2030.
Tom Kelly: |00:16:18| Cool. Colin, have you driven the Zamboni yet?
Colin Hilton: |00:16:21| You know, that's a good question, Tom. It's one of the few things I haven't done yet, but all you need to do it. It's on my bucket list for sure.
Tom Kelly: |00:16:28| I mean, this is the kind of thing you could sell at a fundraising auction, right?
Colin Hilton: |00:16:31| It should be. And we will, uh, probably likely do that as we get closer to 2034.
Tom Kelly: |00:16:37| Let's head over to the Utah Olympic Park. And I have a lot of history here because I came to Park City in 1988. And I remember in the summer of 1989 with, uh, Howard Peterson from US Ski Association and others, we hiked up to these mountains. They were just mountains. There were trees and there was red rock, and there was a little weather station. And we were just kind of trying to figure out where to put this site. Now you have this glorious park at the Utah Olympic Park. Tell us about this and how this is kind of the crown jewel of the venues here in Utah.
Colin Hilton: |00:17:08| Um, in oh two, we were the busiest venue, and we're going to be even busier in 2034. We had two fields of play back in oh two, and we're going to have three fields of play given the ski jumps, the sliding track. And now with our new Spencer F Eccles Olympic Mountain Center, we have new, um, ski and snowboard terrain that is going to provide a third location. So, um, the best part is that we're busy every day, summer and winter training. Um, in the winter we now have alpine training, which was only limited to what we call our intermediate hill or called highway. And now we have a full fledged, um, training facility for alpine and freestyle moguls that is perfect for training, and it allows athletes to be able to drive up here and find a parking spot and be able to go train without fighting the crowds at the ski resorts. And I think this is this is a win win for the ski resorts and for our facility, where we have such an amazing environment to train athletes and to be able to use this for competitions, whether it be annual international competitions or hosting the again the world in 2034.
Tom Kelly: |00:18:34| When we made that little hike up in 1989, one of the most poignant memories that I have of that day was looking out to the West and seeing this big face, and we're thinking, 'man, that's going to be a great ski run someday.' So that's the mountain center. That's the training area. I went up there last year, took a few runs. That's an intimidating run. That has got to be great for training.
Colin Hilton: |00:19:00| The coaches and the athletes love it. We've now been two winter seasons of having trainings and competitions on it, and it's pretty unique in that for in this case for alpine training and races, it starts relatively mild and it gets steeper as you go down the mountain, and it ends on its steepest pitch right before the finish line, which is somewhat unusual but really challenging for the athletes as they go down the mountain.
Tom Kelly: |00:19:29| I remember my first run down and it's flat at the top, so you're coming across the flats, you're really cruising and then you're coming to a drop over and you can't see. And if you've never been over it, you're kind of, oh, is this okay?
Speaker3: |00:19:42| Yeah.
Colin Hilton: |00:19:42| It's, uh, we had, uh, Ted Ligety be the first forerunner of our first event, and he was just blown away. He said, this is phenomenal. And so we look forward to, um, uh, refining what sport events will use on that new Spencer F Eccles Mountain Center. Um, and for sure, what we're going to see is a very active venue here.
Tom Kelly: |00:20:07| When listeners are coming for a ski vacation to Park City next year if they want to come to the Olympic Park, what are some of the things they might be able to do in the wintertime? Like can they get in a bobsled?
Colin Hilton: |00:20:19| Yes, and that's been a mainstay of our sort of offerings to the public, is to take a run down the sliding track in a bobsled or we have opportunities for folks. We actually run ziplines even in the wintertime. Uh, but for the most part, um, you know, we, we cater to these youth clubs that are here every, uh, year developing their skills. And I really like to believe these facilities are amazing learning environments.
Tom Kelly: |00:20:56| It's interesting, too, because when I look around at other major resort cities and Olympic cities around the world, it's pretty rare to see all of the venues in one place. And I think all the venues for the 2034 games will be within one hour of the Athlete Village.
Colin Hilton: |00:21:18| Absolutely. And it's really unheard of in countries to be able to, to have a village, one central village and all venues within an hour's drive of that village. And so I think just geography wise, Utah is positioned very well for the future, certainly for these upcoming games, we sort of have a what we call the Salt Lake Valley cluster of venues where most of those are our ice venues. And then we have a Wasatch Mountain cluster, which is everything on the Wasatch back here between Utah Olympic Park, Park City, Deer Valley, and Soldier Hollow. Um, and then we have two standalones that are Snowbasin to the north and Provo Peaks Arena to the south. And that, you know, is our complement of, um, ten competition venues. But the one unique one is going to bring what is normally a mountain sport of big air and bring that downtown and Salt Lake and take this incredible event and put it in an urban core.
Tom Kelly: |00:22:24| So you're going to build a big air tower in downtown Salt Lake City?
Colin Hilton: |00:22:29| Absolutely. And this has been done at places like Fenway Park and the baseball field in Atlanta. And we have this interest to, again, bring sport to the people, uh, bring it to the masses and bring something that, uh, is very unique and, uh, put that in the downtown. In this case, it will be at the same location as our Medals Plaza.
Tom Kelly: |00:22:55| Yeah, that is going to be amazing to watch. I just one more question. We've been talking about all of these great Olympic venues and all the things that are going to be happening in February of 2034. Let's talk about one thing to close it out that's very near and dear to me. And I know it is to you, Colin, as well. But these venues, more than anything else, they've been amazing for kids, for the youth, for the next generation.
Colin Hilton: |00:23:18| And that's been our unique approach to a living legacy after the 2002 games. Uh, it's been purposeful. We have viewed that while it's great that we train the national team athletes every year, it's equally important that we're developing youth in winter sport. And we have a belief that, um, coaches that we employ, um, are teaching kids to build life skills through sport, setting goals, building confidence. And we've been able to balance the day where we kind of say high performance by day and recreation by night. And that occurs whether it's on snow or on ice. And we have quality programs that is a collaboration of wonderful organizations throughout the state that use these facilities, and great partnerships that allow us to create a vibrancy of uses at these facilities.
Tom Kelly: |00:24:19| They're really amazing facilities. Colin Hilton, thank you very much. We're going to be coming back right now with Vincent Bonacci, biathlete, going to talk a little bit about Soldier Hollow. Then we're going to catch up with Erin Jackson, the gold medalist from Beijing in the 500m. She's going to tell us why she loves training at the Utah Olympic Oval. And then finally, we'll hear from Kaysha Love, bobsledder who will talk about the sliding track at the Utah Olympic Park. Uh, congratulations, Colin, again on getting the games in 2034. I hope you have a little time to take a break and celebrate. But I know that nine and a half years is going to go pretty quickly. Thanks for being a part of our podcast here at Last Chair.
Colin Hilton: |00:24:59| Thanks very much, Tom.
Tom Kelly: |00:25:03| A big thanks to Colin Hilton, who had the challenging task of getting over a dozen venues under contract before the IOC presentation. Now, let's head down to Soldier Hollow in the Heber Valley and learn about the sport of biathlon with Vincent Bonacci. The combination of cross country skiing and marksmanship has become one of the most watched sports in the Winter Olympic program this season, Bonacci helped lead the US Biathlon Team to its two best relay finishes ever, including a stunning performance in front of his hometown fans at Soldier Hollow. So what are the secrets to top athletic performance in the sport? How does the Soldier Hollow venue give an edge to Team USA athletes training there? We'll learn that and more as we chat with Utah's own Vincent Bonucci. Talking biathlon at Soldier Hollow a little bit more about biathlon. Most of the listeners of this podcast are alpine skiers or snowboarders. So to kick it off, tell us a little bit about what biathlon is and why it's become such an exciting Olympic event.
Vincent Bonacci: |00:26:07| So biathlon, to put it as briefly as possible, is cross-country skiing. But you carry your rifle and you shoot at targets once every lap. This is making it super exciting because there's a really big penalty if you miss any of the targets. Every time you shoot, you shoot five times. If you have any misses, you have a pretty big penalty. So it's like if you're doing an alpine ski race and then they had to, you know, it's like if you had to put on the brakes and like do a mini golf hole. And depending on how many strokes you did, they would just add a second to your time. So no matter where you are in the race, it can totally change who's leading, who's behind, which makes it really great to watch. And it's super fun to be able to do it right in the backyard.
Speaker3: |00:26:46| It's a pretty exciting event.
Tom Kelly: |00:26:47| Now let's let's kind of dive a little bit deeper into what this means. So you're out there, you're doing the cross country event. What kind of a heart rate are you pushing at the at the peak of your cross country skiing?
Vincent Bonacci: |00:26:58| My peak heart rate is about 200. On a good day, I maintain about 195 during the race. I'll be shooting at or above 187 beats per minute. That's not even close to the highest on the team, actually.
Tom Kelly: |00:27:16| So, I think a lot of us have this. Maybe it's a little bit of a misnomer that you try to get that heart rate down, but really, what you're looking to do is just push through and be able to do such a precision maneuver as marksmanship at that high heart rate.
Vincent Bonacci: |00:27:31| Yeah, exactly. So you really if you if you take the time to slow your heart rate down, you're going too slowly. So you really just have to you get to the shooting range and you just have to go for it. So that's what we practice a lot in the summer is shooting with that super high heart rate, super high energy level, super high respiration and just forcing it to be good because yeah, it is a timed sport. So if you take the time to do anything that's not absolutely necessary, you're already losing.
Tom Kelly: |00:27:58| You grew up in Utah, so I know you had access to a lot of different winter sports. What was your pathway to get into biathlon?
Vincent Bonacci: |00:28:06| So my pathway was I was always a Nordic skier in Salt Lake with the TUNA group. So The Utah Nordic Alliance. I had dabbled in biathlon with some like recreational stuff out of state. And when I was about 17, Soldier Hollow started a club for biathlon that I immediately joined because I always liked it and it just snowballed from there.
Tom Kelly: |00:28:29| Before you got into biathlon, did you have any experience with marksmanship?
Vincent Bonacci: |00:28:35| I did not like it was just maybe, you know, shooting cans in the desert on camping trips with my dad, but mostly skier first, marksman second. Um, which I think is a path most people take. Because if you don't, if you find the skiing fun and the shooting not fun, it's a lot easier to get through than, um, the opposite.
Tom Kelly: |00:28:58| Let's talk about the fans in the sport. Biathlon ... it's a complex sport. You have to figure it out a little bit. But one of the things that has really amazed me is the passionate fans. And you compete in some venues in Europe where you have ten, 15, 20,000 or more fans. They understand the make or break element on the shooting range and really get into it, don't they?
Vincent Bonacci: |00:29:22| Oh yeah, and there are some venues too where they are close to you. So, um, to name a couple, I would say like Novo Mesto in the Czech Republic and um, Oberhof and Ruhpolding are the three where it's like the most intense for the shooting because you have a lot of people really close, like Oberhof, for example. If it's 26,000 people in the stadium, right by the shooting, I think Novo Mesto in the Czech Republic does almost 20,000. And that's just people, I would say within 100m of where you're shooting and depending on who you are, they are yelling for every single shot. And so these fans are all into it. It's so loud you can't even think. And if you are one of the favorites there and you mess something up or when you hit, they all cheer. Ah, and if you miss, they're all oh. And yeah, that it's a crazy experience to have that many people just shrieking.
Tom Kelly: |00:30:18| Let's go back to Soldier Hollow, your home venue in Utah, one of the venues for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Going back to March of this year, you had a World Cup event there. Thousands of fans gathered at Soldier Hollow. Tell us about the success that you had in helping to lead the U.S. relay team to one of its best finishes ever.
Vincent Bonacci: |00:30:41| Yeah, so I got to lead off the men's relay team this March at Soldier Hollow. I think there were about 5,000 spectators there, give or take a few. Um, and so, of course, usually we're not the team that really gets cheered for. But being the team USA, it was weird being on the range and every time I hit the target there was a definitely noticeable like, yeah, um, and I got very lucky that I didn't miss in that race, so I didn't have to deal with any of the woes of the, uh, of the misses, but. And yeah, the team had phenomenal skis that day. We were all in shape. We all had a great day. And it was awesome to be able to get a fourth place, just like, so, so close to the podium for the team. Um, which I think is great. It built a lot of momentum. It got the fans really excited because it's always fun when we have a domestic race, which is pretty rare to be able to really show up and do well. And I think it shows too, that we got the potential in the near future to get some hardware.
Tom Kelly: |00:31:40| Yeah, it was a fun, fun weekend there. Talk about the Soldier Hollow venue itself. You've been skiing there your entire career. It was the venue used for the 2002 Olympics, both for cross country skiing and for, uh, biathlon, as well as Nordic combined. But talk about the venue itself and some of the attributes of the trails, and in particular the elevation.
Vincent Bonacci: |00:32:03| Oh, I personally I love racing there. The elevation. It's one of the highest, if not the highest, biathlon venue we race at, um, and it's one of those where it can really get into your head if you're not prepared for it. Because even though I grew up in Salt Lake, when I'm racing, we spend most of the winter at essentially sea level, maybe 1200ft above sea level. So coming to altitude has an effect on everybody. Um, the trails at Soldier Hollow are not the hardest, but everyone I've talked to, and myself included, they are so fun. To ski is the general consensus. They have great flow. You get to go fast. They are super hard. You have a lot of working, but they are great for racing. There's all sorts of opportunities to pass people to stay in the group, to be really strategic with it. And then when you add the altitude, you get this little bit of extra like pizzazz sprinkled on top. That really makes the racing a lot of fun and a lot of fun to watch.
Tom Kelly: |00:32:58| Let's talk more about the elevation and how that affects your training. I know a lot of athletes actually like to come to Soldier Hollow and to Park City nearby as well, for the high elevation. Tell me a little bit about physiologically, how does the altitude help you during the training period?
Vincent Bonacci: |00:33:17| Uh, physiologically, the the theory is by training at altitude, you get to load your cardiovascular system more while loading your body less. So your heart is working a little harder, your lungs are working a little harder, but you don't have to work your muscles quite as hard just because of the the lack of oxygen makes it a little bit, um, more difficult for your heart and lungs and less difficult for your arms. So you kind of train your muscles at sea level, and then you train your heart and lungs at higher altitude. And then there are also some other benefits theorized like more hemoglobin mass, higher red blood cell count, um, and things like that. And of course, it's all a very personal thing. Being from altitude. I love being there. I love being in the mountains, especially ones that like don't have trees on top, because you can tell high alpine mountains versus like the New York 46 ers. So I really love the opportunity to get into high alpine mountains. But um yeah for training it really is excellent. It's a great it's a different feeling where you are just when you're going all out, it's all heart and lungs and your vision kind of tunnels, but your body is still telling you you can do a bit more. And I think that's why people really like to train at altitude.
Tom Kelly: |00:34:30| For a young cross-country skier out there who might be listening to this podcast, or maybe the parents of one. What's the next step? If you're a cross country skier, you like the sport and you want to try biathlon, how can you get involved in the sport?
Vincent Bonacci: |00:34:44| US Biathlon has a pretty great page, um, on their website, underneath resources, I want to say where they have a directory of all the local clubs. So the best thing to do would be to find your closest club and, um, and try that out. Otherwise be looking for a try biathlon thing near you. I know there are a ton in West Yellowstone every Thanksgiving, which is a big week for skiing in the US. There's a new excellent Nordic center in the Midwest in Brillion, Wisconsin called the Ariens Nordic Center. So if you are in that area, definitely check it out. Excellent raw loop if you're there in the summer. Full snowmaking in the winter. Professional level range. Great staff, nice people. So that's another good one. In Montana there's also Crosscut Mountain Sports Center, which has a brand new 30-point range. In California, there's the Auburn Ski Club. And then once you get to the east, there's even more. There's like, uh, Jericho, Vermont, Craftsbury, Vermont, Lake Placid, New York, um, Um, all sorts of places to try biathlon. So I would recommend just finding the local club nearest you that lets you try it out and see where it goes from there, because really, you can't you can't plan for three steps down the road. It would just be figure out where to try it and see if you like it.
Tom Kelly: |00:36:01| Well, you can learn more at USbiathlon org. You can also go to the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, which is the operator of the Soldier Hollow venue. They can give you some more info. One last question, Vince. And before we turn you loose for, uh, for more training in Switzerland, if you're a young athlete, as you look ahead to 2034, it's nine and a half years out. But are you thinking at all that maybe you'd like to be skiing in front of the hometown fans at Soldier Hollow in February of 2034?
Vincent Bonacci: |00:36:34| I'll leave it with the same answer I gave the, uh, the, um, Olympic Committee when they were here, too, and I got to participate with the bid. But I won't say no, but I also won't say yes. 34 is still it's ten years from now. And that's that's way too long to predict. If I look at ten years ago, I was 14 years old, so 14 year old me would have no idea I'd be sitting in Switzerland right now at a training camp. So I don't think 24-year old me has any idea what 34-year old me is going to want.
Tom Kelly: |00:37:06| A good way to look at it, Vincent. Congratulations on your accomplishments so far. Good luck this season. And thanks for joining us here on Last Chair, The Ski Utah Podcast.
Vincent Bonacci: |00:37:16| Thanks so much for having me. Have a wonderful rest of your day.
Tom Kelly: |00:37:21| A big thanks to Vincent for taking time out of his European training camp at Lenzerheide, Switzerland. He'll be back there this winter for the World Championships. Now let's head to the multifaceted Utah Olympic Park in Park City, Utah. This will undoubtedly be the busiest venue in 2034 with ski jumping, Nordic combined, bobsled, skeleton, luge and much, much more. One of the expected stars for the upcoming 2026 Olympic Winter Games is bobsledder Kesha. Love Kesha is a Utah native, and she was a star runner in high school, leading Harriman High to four state titles, going on to college at UNLV. She blazed her way to more collegiate titles and records before a coach told her one day, Hey Kesha, I think you have the physical attributes and skills to become a successful bobsledder. Boy, that came to her out of the blue and having a sliding track, though just a short drive from her home, she gave it a try. She was hooked and just a year later she was competing in Beijing. In another year, she won a world championship medal. Kaysha will tell us all about the sport of bobsled, including how, as a pilot, she can set the runners on her sled within an inch of her planned line, all the while traveling 80 miles an hour or more.
Tom Kelly: |00:38:45| Let's talk now to Olympic bobsledder Kaysha Love. We are now joined with an athlete who whose passion is going down this icy track in a metal contraption at how fast?
Kaysha Love: |00:39:07| It depends on the track, but we're anywhere from like 70 to 85 miles an hour. Amazing.
Tom Kelly: |00:39:11| Kaysha love, Olympian from Beijing, world championship medalist in bobsled. You were a track star in Utah. You grew up in Utah. You were a track star at Harriman High School. You went down to UNLV for college. How did you get into bobsled?
Kaysha Love: |00:39:26| Yeah. Um, honestly, first, thanks for having me here. I'm really excited to be on your show. Um, second, I think I my story is very Cool Runnings related. You know, I went from track and field into bobsled and like, Cool Runnings says, you know, sprinters make great bobsledders. And I had a track coach and a bobsled coach who kind of approached me and basically told me that I was in the wrong sport, that I am a good sprinter, could be a great one, but I could be the best of the best and an Olympic bobsled athlete. And I just remember thinking they were crazy.
Tom Kelly: |00:39:57| What were some of the characteristics that they saw in you that said, hey, she could really do this bobsled thing?
Kaysha Love: |00:40:03| Yeah. So some of those characteristics are like speed, power and explosiveness. And the big determining factor is like size. So our sport is a gravity sport. And most sprinters are very petite, very fast and not necessarily like the strongest of the bunch. They are incredibly strong for like their weight category, but in the sense of trying to move a 400-pound sled, you need to have some like mass on your bones. And so the coaches basically came to me and said, you are very fast. You are a little bit bigger for a sprinter, and your speed and your power is something that would make you a fantastic bobsled athlete. You should give it a try.
Tom Kelly: |00:40:41| Did your coaches have experience with bobsled? Had they seen this happen before or they just kind of put it together? Yeah.
Kaysha Love: |00:40:48| They never had experience in bobsled, but they kind of looked at some film and realized that the mechanics and the technique behind the sprinting of the first 30m and what they were like seeing on the bobsled track were very similar, like the angles of which you want your shin positions to be in and the angles are power were very similar in the two sports, and they just were like, you know, what we know of you as an athlete is you seem to catch on and learn really fast, like you come from gymnastics, where you can see something and you can replicate it. And we think that you could do this in the sport of bobsled. So we have to give it a shot.
Tom Kelly: |00:41:20| So there aren't that many bobsled tracks in the world, but there is one in Utah up at the Utah Olympic Park in Park City. How instrumental has that facility been in your growth as an athlete?
Kaysha Love: |00:41:30| Yeah, it's been incredible. Especially so I entered the sport in as a brake woman, and now I've made the transition to becoming a pilot and being a pilot, you are in charge of not only like your life, but the life of the people that you're taking down. The track and the way to get better as a pilot is like anything else repetition, repetition, repetition, and what I noticed in other places around the world, you don't have a bobsled track, and for me to have a track in the back of my in my backyard really was something that was a game changer for me in my career. I was able to go to Park City and train and learn and practice in a safe element that wasn't costing an arm and a leg to try to get some experience that wasn't in an environment where I didn't feel safe or it wasn't up to par. Like this environment. And this track is like state of the art, and that was a game changer for my piloting career.
Tom Kelly: |00:42:22| Let's talk about the sport of bobsled itself. Let's talk again about the speed on the fastest tracks in the world. What kind of speeds could you be hitting?
Kaysha Love: |00:42:31| Yeah, the fastest tracks are. We have one here in Park City and the other one is in Whistler, Canada. And we are hitting anywhere from like 80 to 85, sometimes even 90 miles an hour. Some of these formations have been clocked at like 92 miles an hour ripping down Whistler.
Tom Kelly: |00:42:45| What does that feel like in the sled? I mean, you're you're not strapped in. You're just sitting in that thing. What does it feel like to go down at that speed and pulling a couple G's in the corners?
Kaysha Love: |00:42:56| Man, it's wicked. Um, that's just the best way I can describe it. It is wicked. It's nothing like I've ever experienced, you know? You think you go on a roller coaster, and a roller coaster feels fast and it feels like you're pulling some G's, and then you get in a bobsled, and it's an entirely different element, and you can kind of change the way you feel in a bobsled by manipulating the pressures, like of certain drivers can change or manipulate a pressure in a curve, you are now adding or taking away more g force or adding more speed into the sled. And that is just an incredible feeling the first time. It's absolutely terrifying and you don't ever want to do it again. And then by the second time you realize that it is so much fun and it's just a whirlwind of emotions and ultimately just this massive adrenaline rush.
Tom Kelly: |00:43:38| How important is it to have good core strength.
Kaysha Love: |00:43:40| Yeah, no, that is definitely the biggest key factor to like keeping us healthy. So for me as a pilot, I have a majority of my head sticking out of the sled. And for my brakeman, they are hunched over in a piked position, and if you don't have a strong core, like you're going to start to see the repercussions of that in your back and in your hamstring and in your shoulders. And so in order to make sure that you can stay healthy, like all of that is at the core.
Tom Kelly: |00:44:05| When you're piloting the sled down the track, how minute can you maneuver the sled on the ice of the track?
Kaysha Love: |00:44:11| So every single thing that you're seeing on, I guess when we're going down the track is completely controlled by the pilot. So I can distinguish whether an inch to the left or an inch to the right, I can create that in the sled. And that can be the difference of a crash or a perfect run is like an inch, two inches. And that becomes really challenging in the sense of going down. Um, okay, let me back up. It can be challenging in the sense that when we are practicing, we only get three runs a day. And so every run that you take has to just be with so much purpose and so much execution, and you need to know what the plan is and execute in executing that. And so to know that one inch to the left or one inch to the right could be the difference of a crash or a start. Record run is something that I thrive for in that challenge of knowing that this has to be basically perfect.
Tom Kelly: |00:45:01| In ski racing, athletes go up on the course and they look at the course and they plot their track around the different gates. Do you also in bobsled, do you look at the track? Do you know exactly the position you want to be in coming into turn five?
Speaker7: |00:45:15| Absolutely.
Kaysha Love: |00:45:16| Yep. Before every training, before every race, I go on a track walk and I go on track walk with two different coaches who can give me a different perspective on not only the track, but how they would approach that curve. I've been at tracks where I've never competed on before, and to have the perception and to have the guidance of my coaches who have done this before on different ice conditions, different days, because that also changes how you attack a corner. Like what is the ice conditions? Is the ice frosty? Is it slippery today? Is it, um, more wet like these are like challenges that change the way you would attack a curve. And we spend a lot of time watching POVs and talking with the coaches and just really making sure that we're aware of how we would a like plan a attacking the curve. And then if something went wrong, let's just say worst case scenario, how do you get yourself out of trouble?
Tom Kelly: |00:46:04| We talked with Erin Jackson, the Olympic gold medalist in long track speed skating, about the composition of ice and what makes ice fast, I imagine you have somewhat the similar thing that the ice that's being made about the Utah Olympic Park on the track there, there's different kind of science and mystery behind how you get good ice, right?
Kaysha Love: |00:46:24| Absolutely. Yeah. And for us, great ice comes when it is flirting with the negative degree weather, anything under like freezing cold. And if we can get a spritzed ice if we can turn the refrigeration on, crank it all the way up, get the ice as hard and as cold as possible. Hard ice is the fastest ice, and to top off with a spritz like the track crew is fantastic. Our ice masters come through and they chisel out curves. They also spritz the ice to make sure that it has a nice like glistening of water on it, and the way the runners just glide across the water on top of the ice is what makes the perfect combination for start record ice.
Tom Kelly: |00:47:00| So you are actually gliding on the water surface
Kaysha Love: |00:47:02| So we're not like the other sports, for instance, like speed skating with Erin. She's actually cutting ice. Her blades are sharp, our blades aren't sharp. They're actually rounded. And you can change the size of your runner. And you can also change like the rock hardness. And depending on the track there's different runners used. So the equipment really matters. You have to be very educated in the sense of what equipment is best for what weather situation, which track. For example, Lake Placid, New York. Their track is very, very compact with lots of curves. There's not really any straightaways. Everything is connected. It's very much switchback type of energy. And then the track here in Park City is quite the opposite. There are lots of big, huge pressure curves which allow for the sled to go significantly faster. And you may want to use different type of runners or a different setup for that day.
Tom Kelly: |00:47:51| Yeah, it's amazing the technical details of it all. You're on your way to Paris now with the delegation from the Salt Lake City, Utah committee for the games. I'm sure this is a big honor for you to have been selected to represent sport in Utah, over in Paris, in front of the IOC.
Kaysha Love: |00:48:06| Absolutely. Yeah. Like you said, it's a massive honor to just be engaged in Olympic sport and bobsled for as little as four years has been a massive honour to know that. Like, I've been selected to represent more than just myself, to represent what Utah stands for, and to show the world that Utah is ready. I think that the sliding community, bobsled, skeleton, and luge has been a little frustrated with the sense that we're seeing that Milan is not necessarily ready, like Italy doesn't have our tracks prepared. We're two years out from the games, and that's a frustrating situation, especially for a sport that sliding sports are one of the most popular sports in the Olympics. And so I think to kind of show the world that, hey, regardless of what happens in Italy, like Utah is ready and we're here and we're prepared to put on what the Olympics stand for. We've had a really rough Winter Olympic Games with Beijing being Covid, and then with Italy potentially not being able to host bobsled, skeleton and luge in Italy. I think it's been a very frustrating ordeal for a lot of sliding athletes, and I think that when we announce to the world that Utah will be bringing home 34, I think it will be a sense of relief and just gratitude and excitement across the entire world, not just for Utah and not for me and my family, but for the entire Olympic Committee in the sense of Winter Olympics that we finally get to have an Olympic Games where the country and the state are ready to represent what we believe is the Olympic movement at the highest.
Tom Kelly: |00:49:30| You are a part of a delegation that includes some remarkable athletes who are Utah-based. Are there any athletes in that group that, uh, maybe you've met and you know, and are there athletes you're really looking forward to meeting?
Kaysha Love: |00:49:42| Yeah, I'll start with I'm really excited to meet Lindsey Vonn. I think she's incredible. I think what she stands for and the incredible things she does on the mountain, off the mountain, are just amazing. And she's just definitely somebody that I've always looked to when I didn't even compete in Winter Olympics, when I was in track, when I was in gymnastics, she was a big household name, and I think it's going to be so eye-opening and such an incredible opportunity to be in the same room as her, as I get to watch her lead us into, um, bringing Utah 34 and then some of the other athletes I've had the opportunity to really get to know, like, I have really get to know Erin Jackson and some of our youth kids here, and just to be able to get to know them better and to kind of open and broaden our relationship in the sense that we got to be a part of something once again, that was bigger than ourselves and representing Utah and the things that we all collectively love and share is something that I'm extremely looking forward to.
Tom Kelly: |00:50:37| One last thing. One of the big points of the Salt Lake City, Utah Committee for the Games is the impact of sport on community. And uh, earlier today, we were with a number of young athletes who are going over to Paris to represent their sport. They're all 15 to 18 years old. What what do you see? You came up in track and field, so you probably can't answer this directly from bobsled. But the culture of sport that we have in Utah and the importance of sport on communities, what are your thoughts on that, how important sport is to us in this world?
Kaysha Love: |00:51:08| Yeah, no, it's incredibly important. It's not only important in the sense of giving us purpose, but it also gives us like an avenue to express ourselves in different ways. And when I look at the youth that we're going to bring over to Paris, I think about how I am so excited to see the growth and the overall, just like evolution of winter sports as a whole, for sure. So in track and field, um, I feel like track is very accessible. You know, gymnastics is accessible. Like these are things that you can find in nearly every community, everything like there's there's a track everywhere, but there's not necessarily a bobsled track or an ice skating rink or some of these major winter facilities everywhere, you know. And so to know that Utah is as a community, working really hard to make sure that our youth knows that there are other, um, avenues in winter sports. It's not just about summer sports. It's not just about like the Olympics in general. It's about giving these kids an opportunity to do something outside of outside of school, outside of themselves, and to be able to connect and to build and grow within their community, I think is amazing. And when I look back and and I see that we have kids that are representing Utah in our junior programs who are going to like the Junior Olympics. And I think that is incredible. And it's only just going to get bigger from here, like the Olympic movement and winter sports and just sport in general is something big. It brings community and culture together. And Utah is no stranger to showing that we are here to back all sports. We brought hockey, we brought professional soccer. We have Utah and BYU and all these incredible universities that have sports. And we see it in everyday community that this community is backing the sports. And I think that it is just an incredible opportunity for our youth programs.
Tom Kelly: |00:52:50| All of this aside, what's one fun thing you want to do in Paris?
Kaysha Love: |00:52:53| Oof, gets a croissant. I want a croissant so bad.
Speaker7: |00:52:56| We'll get you a croissant.
Kaysha Love: |00:52:57| Yeah, Europe. Bakeries and cafes are just ... they're so different. But, yeah, I'd love the Eiffel Tower and a croissant.
Tom Kelly: |00:53:04| Olympian. Bobsledder, world championship medallist. Thanks for joining us on Last Chair.
Kaysha Love: |00:53:10| Thank you. Tom.
Tom Kelly: |00:53:14| Thanks to Kaysha Love, who was one of the athletes appearing before the International Olympic Committee in Paris. So what does it take to make the fastest ice on earth, and what does it take to become an Olympic champion in speed skating? Erin Jackson grew up in Florida, becoming an inline skater in about 7 or 8 years ago. She transferred her skills to the ice, becoming a speed skater. Just a few years later, she was in Beijing skating for Olympic gold, and since then, Erin Jackson has become one of the truly great stars of her sport, Not resting on her laurels, Jackson is deep into training for the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy. Now let's catch up with Olympic champion speed skater Erin Jackson. Erin Jackson, Olympic gold medalist in speed skating. This is a skiing podcast, but it's great to have you here. Oh yeah.
Erin Jackson: |00:54:07| Happy to be here.
Tom Kelly: |00:54:08| Now let's just get a little bit of your background. Uh, you grew up in Florida, and somehow you made it out here to Utah. Right?
Erin Jackson: |00:54:15| Yeah. I'm a Florida kid. There wasn't a whole lot of ice where I grew up, but I got my start on roller skates.
Tom Kelly: |00:54:20| And how did you make the transition from what is it, inline skating? Is that the proper term? Right.
Erin Jackson: |00:54:26| Yeah. Just inline speed skating or. Yeah.
Tom Kelly: |00:54:28| How did you make the transition to ice?
Erin Jackson: |00:54:30| Well, I was fortunate enough to train with a lot of now Olympians like Brittany Bowe and Joey Mantia. And yeah, I was just able to watch them have have success on the ice. And I thought, you know, maybe I could do that someday. So I waited until after I graduated college and then went to just some open ice skating session and yeah, kind of got my butt handed to me. It wasn't it wasn't very successful. I was pretty much like Bambi on ice with those first few steps. And then the people out here at US speed skating saw that video of me skating terribly and they're like, hey, why don't we teach you how to really do it?
Tom Kelly: |00:55:03| Get out. So they saw your video and invited you out.
Erin Jackson: |00:55:06| They saw my terrible video and they were like, we can fix this.
Tom Kelly: |00:55:08| Well, and they did, and they did. Right? Right. So you moved out here in what, 2017?
Erin Jackson: |00:55:13| I moved here in 2018, 2017. I came to just kind of try it out, and then I went back home. And then in 2018, after the 18 games, I moved here.
Tom Kelly: |00:55:21| Now with the Olympics, hopefully coming back to Salt Lake City in 2034. One of the attributes of Utah is that all of these venues still exist. Now your venue is the Utah Olympic Oval out in the West Side in Kearns, Utah. How important is it to have a facility like that for athletes like you?
Erin Jackson: |00:55:39| It's amazing. We we always talk about how spoiled we are to have such an amazing venue here. The ice is always perfect. It's really warm in the rink, like for an ice rink. We're really spoiled for it to not be freezing in there like some of the other rinks. So yeah, it's just amazing to have, you know, the perfect ice conditions, just fast speeds all the time. It's we're definitely spoiled.
Tom Kelly: |00:56:00| I was talking to someone out there who was telling me about the composition of the ice and what it takes to create fast ice. And this is the fastest ice in the world. What does it take to make fast ice?
Erin Jackson: |00:56:12| Oh, that would be a great question for our ice master. His name is Shane Truskolaski. I hope I'm getting his last name correct. And then the other guy, Paul, out in Milwaukee. They're both amazing ice makers, so there's a whole lot that goes into it with temperature and mate and keeping the humidity at a certain level in the rink. There's a whole lot of science and I don't know all of it. I have driven the Zamboni once, but I didn't do that great of a job. But yes, there's a whole lot that goes into ice-making. But as far as being in Salt Lake City, the main thing is the altitude where we are, the elevation, and then also the low air pressure. That kind of leads to some really fast times here.
Tom Kelly: |00:56:49| From from a training perspective. Talk about the importance of that elevation for you when you're just training and getting your body physiologically prepared for the season.
Erin Jackson: |00:56:59| Right? So there are kind of two aspects to it. One of them is just the physiological boost you get from training at elevation. And then when you go to compete at sea level, you kind of have, you know, that that boost that I mentioned for like the first week or so where you're kind of like superhuman for a little bit. So there's a bit of that when you train at altitude. And then on the other side, there's just training in a fast rink gets you kind of used to that over speed. Right. So if you can handle the turns at speed in Salt Lake City, then you can handle the turns anywhere in the world. So there's also that bit of training boost as well.
Tom Kelly: |00:57:31| Your specialty has been a little bit on the shorter side, the 500m physically. What what's your training program like? What are you trying to do to condition your body for maximum benefit at 500m?
Erin Jackson: |00:57:44| Right. Yeah. So I do the shortest distance that we have in long track speed skating. And there's actually a lot of core work that goes into it, like having a strong core to handle the forces through the turns and then a whole lot of weight lifting, having a like strong what do they call that? Sorry, I'm blanking on the term posterior chain. Sorry. Beautiful. Yeah. Yes. That escaped me for a minute. Strong posterior chain, strong legs, that sort of thing. Just to really be able to have control through the through the corners.
Tom Kelly: |00:58:15| Basically we're doing we're doing this interview in July. How often are you on ice now or is it mostly dry land training?
Erin Jackson: |00:58:22| It's mostly dry land, mostly weight lifting, a lot of biking. So like building a strong cardio base. We're on ice, I'd say about twice a week right now and that's just short track ice. There's actually no long track ice. Uh, Shane and the other ice makers are actually in the process of building up the long track ice, but they take it out for most of the summer.
Tom Kelly: |00:58:41| Tell us about your season. When does the competitive season begin? How long does it last?
Erin Jackson: |00:58:46| So our competitive season starts domestically in September, and we'll have just a couple races around here in Salt Lake City. And then at the end of October, we'll have the World Cup trials in Milwaukee. And then that's where we select the team that races the World Cups through that season. So then the season ends in March. So from basically uh, mid to late November through March, we'll be racing all around the world. We'll have, I think, six World Cups and World Championships.
Tom Kelly: |00:59:12| We have a lot of skiers and snowboarders listening to this podcast. So let's go back and recount your gold medal in the 500m. And not just the gold medal, but the pathway that it took you to get there and the support of your teammates to help you get to Beijing.
Erin Jackson: |00:59:25| Right. Yeah. My path to Beijing wasn't an easy one. It wasn't a very straight path. So I came onto the scene and the 2021 World Cup season, after not really racing much in 2020, just with Covid and everything that was going on. So I ended well. I guess I'll skip to the end of the World Cup season. I was ranked number one in the world after all the World Cups, and then I went into the Olympic Trials and I failed to qualify for the team. I slipped in my race and in the 500 it's the shortest race we have. So there's really no room for any mistakes like that. But yeah, I made a big mistake. I slipped and almost fell on my race and that cost me an Olympic spot on the team. But luckily my teammate Brittany Bowe, she's someone I mentioned earlier, grew up racing with her back in Florida. We grew up on the on the same team, the same roller skating team. She actually declined her position in the 500 to get me a spot on the 500 team, and it was just like an amazingly selfless act that she did for me to, you know, get me on this Olympic team. And, you know, she also qualified in the 1000 and the 1500. So she wasn't sitting at home, but she still made this incredible sacrifice for me to help me, you know, achieve my Olympic dream. And then we were able to, you know, celebrate that gold medal together as kind of our fairytale ending. So it was just amazing to be there with her. And then she also earned a bronze medal at the same Olympics.
Tom Kelly: |01:00:42| You know, I think just as a fan we get very emotional about this. I mean, this was a very emotional story for America. Had to be incredibly emotional for you.
Erin Jackson: |01:00:50| Yes. Very emotional. I just remember, you know, just a roller coaster of emotions from like, wow, I just failed to make the Olympic team. Like, what happens now? What happens next? And then, you know, that evening Brittany came to me and she said, you know, this is bigger than us. This is about Team USA. Like she said, you're our you're our best shot at bringing home a gold in the 500. You have to go. And she said, if there's anything I can do, you're going to be on this team. So then a couple days later, she went to the officials and declined her spot.
Tom Kelly: |01:01:20| You are a part of the Salt Lake City, Utah committee for the games delegation going to Paris to present the bid for Salt Lake City, Utah to the International Olympic Committee. What are your emotions at being involved in that and heading over to Paris for the meetings on the 24th of July?
Erin Jackson: |01:01:35| Yeah, it's a it's an incredible feeling. I mean, when I got the email with the invitation, I was, I don't know, just I was really honored, you know, that that they would ask me to come be a part of this and it's. Yeah, just a great honor. I'm really excited to to go out there and help represent this delegation to bring the games back to Salt Lake, because I know everyone here is really excited about it. It's an amazing community. We have here an amazing sports community. And yeah, I know that the whole city, the whole state is just rallying around this and I'm happy to go there and support.
Tom Kelly: |01:02:06| So let's talk skiing for a minute before we wrap it up. So you actually have a ski experience? I know you're at home in the Oval on the on the ice, but you actually have had a good ski experience.
Erin Jackson: |01:02:16| Yes, I have skied for two days one weekend.
Tom Kelly: |01:02:20| And tell us about it.
Erin Jackson: |01:02:22| Yes. So this was, uh, right after the Olympics. So this was April Roundabout's April 2022, and I had just left a ski and snowboard event where I just kind of spoke on a panel with them, and they heard that I had never skied before, and they said, oh, well, we can't have that. So the wonderful people at Deer Valley set me up with, you know, a two-day, I guess, lesson or, yeah, two-day skiing lesson out at Deer Valley. And yeah, I learned how to ski from them and it was kind of scary, but also really fun. Good.
Tom Kelly: |01:02:52| Well, I'm glad you had a chance to experience that. Uh, Erin Jackson, thank you so much for joining us on the Last Chair podcast. We wish you the best of luck in the coming season and have a great time in Paris and bring the games back. Awesome.
Erin Jackson: |01:03:04| Thanks. That's the goal.
Tom Kelly: |01:03:06| Wow, what a great story. Erin Jackson, Olympic champion thanks to Erin, bobsledder Kaysha Love, biathlete Vincent Bonaci and Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation leader Colin Hilton. We hope you enjoyed this special summer edition of Last Chair. We'll be back with season six this fall. The Ski Utah Last Chair podcast is brought to you by High West Distillery. Follow our Whiskey Adventure on all social media platforms at Drink High West. And remember sip responsibly. High West Whiskey 46% alcohol by volume. High West Distillery in Park City, Utah. If you like the Ski Utah Last Chair podcast, share it with a friend and leave us a review and make sure to subscribe. And that way you'll get every episode delivered directly to you. As usual, to close us out, let's welcome back our friends Pixie and the Partygrass boys. Congratulations again to Salt Lake City, Utah, bringing home the Winter Games in 2034. I'm Tom Kelly for Last Chair, presented by High West. Have fun. It is a great day to ski.
