Erin Jackson would likely have been the gold medal favorite in Beijing, but as things currently stand, she is out of the 2022 Olympics.
Jackson, the world’s top-ranked speed skater in the women’s 500m event, missed Olympic qualification on Friday after a stumble — not a fall, a stumbling block — that left her two competitors at the US Olympic Trials.
In an event with only two slots available to qualify for Beijing, Jackson finished third with a time of 38.249 seconds. Brittany Bowe, who had already won the 1,000m event at the trials, clocked 37.811 seconds, while Kimi Goetz was behind her with 37.859 seconds.
After the race, Jackson was shown a replay of his stumbling block and said that he lost his leg by hitting a “bad edge” in an otherwise regular outing.
The United States has not won an Olympic medal in the 500 meters event since Bonnie Blair’s gold medal at Lillehammer in 1994. Jackson’s disappearance would certainly hurt the team’s chances of breaking that drought.
Jackson is currently ranked No. 1 in the world by the International Skating Union after winning four of the eight World Cups this season, as well as second and third on his resume. In 2018, she made the US Olympic team just four months after switching from inline skating.
Not Falling Down Was Erin Jackson’s Biggest Mistake
There was some hope that Jackson might skate again and save on his Olympic chances, but that was by no means enough to seize that opportunity.
under US speed skating rules, a skater may get to skate again in the event of an unintentional fall, but not a stumble. So when Jackson realized she was losing her balance, it was actually in her best interest to continue to lose that balance until she sat on the ice.
Jackson was well aware of that rule after the race, but said it would be a bad thing to encourage it:
“I thought about this before the race, the rules are that you have to fall to get to skate again. My thoughts were in the 500, even a stumble is enough to get it out, because the 500 Hundredth is determined by a second. So I thought of making it so that you don’t have to fall to get to skate again, it’s like encouraging people to sit down if they have a stumbling block like me.
“So of course it flashed in my head ‘Maybe I should have sat down,’ but I think encouraging it is a bad thing. So I think when it comes to races like the 500, having special considerations Because it comes down to such a tight time difference.”
Now, thanks to a lack of discretionary places and only one use of time to determine Team USA’s speed-skating roster, the only way for Jackson to make it to Beijing is to take someone out, which isn’t an impossibility. Thank you for the threat of COVID-19. Bowe indicated that there may be some hope for Jackson as well, telling reporters “I think we can get him 500m. will find a way to bring in,
Whether Jackson gets the place or not is a real situation. She can only wait:
“I think I messed up. It’s definitely on me, but it would be awesome to get that re-skate, especially ranked No. 1 in the US, but No. 1 in the world.” . It would be kinda weird not to go. All I can do is wait and see if anyone denies their place and then I can go. We’ll see.”
