NEW YORK (Reuters) -Mystique Ro hopes to take her meteoric rise to the top of the podium at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in February, as she bids to end a nearly quarter-century American gold medal drought in the skeleton.
The track and field athlete-turned-slider only made her World Cup debut in 2023, but has emerged in a short time as a contender to watch.
Her maiden World Cup win in 2024, the first for the U.S. in eight years, "brought the Americans back on the map," she said. Ro followed that up with World Championship silver a year later, the Americans' first world medal in 12 years.
She also took gold in the mixed event with teammate Austin Florian and believes the U.S. have enough talent in their ranks to medal in skeleton at the 2026 Games.
"We can podium... We're going to give them a fight for it for sure," said Ro, who is bidding to become the first U.S. gold medal winner in the event since Tristan Gale and Jimmy Shea won the women's and men's competitions respectively in 2002. "With the right preparation, we can do it."
It is a position the Olympic hopeful struggled to see herself in a year ago, when she suffered a hyperextension in her knee that left her unable to walk properly and fearing her career would be derailed.
"I thought I lost my push. I thought it was done," she told Reuters in New York on Tuesday at the Team USA Media Summit.
Instead, she modified her routine, focusing on building her strength for the famously terrifying sport where competitors hurl their bodies down an icy track at speeds of over 80 miles per hour.
"We've definitely gotten into a position I can walk fine, I can do my normal stuff," said Ro.
"So we're just gonna keep an eye on it and just make sure we don't exaggerate it or make it worse."
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New YorkEditing by Toby Davis)
