Erin Jackson, the world’s fastest female speed skater, showed she can still move pretty swiftly on the roads, too.
Jackson, the Olympic 500m champion on ice, won the one-lap sprint at the World Skate Games on the roads of Buenos Aires on Wednesday.
In a 31-second race, Jackson prevailed by eight thousandths of a second. She nearly squandered the title by celebrating early.
Earlier at the World Skate Games, Jackson was second in the 500m on an outdoor track.
Jackson was one of the breakout stars of the Winter Olympics, entering the Games with most of her major accomplishments in inline skating (12 world medals, 47 national titles and three times the U.S. Female Roller Sports Athlete of the Year). She had not skated on ice until age 25.
Yet Jackson, who formerly competed in roller derby for the Ocala Cannibals in Florida, became the first individual U.S. speed skating medalist since 2010 and first U.S. woman to earn an individual medal in the sport since 2002.
She was the first Black woman to win a Winter Olympic gold medal in an individual event.
Before heading to Buenos Aires, Jackson was on the ice at the 2002 Olympic oval in Utah two weeks ago. She won a 500m and set personal-best times in the 1000m and 1500m to qualify for the U.S. team for this fall’s World Cups. The first stop is next week in Stavanger, Norway.
