- Erin Jackson, the 2022 Olympic 500m champion, a Utah resident and SLCC graduate, skated an American-record 36.57 at the Utah Olympic Oval in 2025. The World Cup returns there Jan. 29-31, 2027.
- Erin Jackson connect back to Utah Homegrown and the wider olympic sports picture.
- The story is backed by 14 sources and a visible last-verified date.
November 1, 2026
November 1, 2026
4 min / 872 words
14 official links
Erin Jackson, the 2022 Olympic 500-meter champion, skated 36.57 at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, breaking the American record in the event at the season-opening World Cup. She took silver that day, and silver the day before in 36.87, US Speedskating reported.
The ISU World Cup returns to the Utah Olympic Oval on Jan. 29-31, 2027, US Speedskating's event page shows, and Jackson, who lives in Utah and trains with the U.S. national team at the Oval, is on the 2026-27 US Speedskating Long Track National Team.
"I felt a little strange, and I guess looking back, probably because I was going faster than I ever had," she said of the record race, in US Speedskating's report.
The Olympic champion from Ocala
US Speedskating and Team USA print Jackson's hometown as Ocala, Florida. She came to long track from inline skating, and her US Speedskating profile lists 47 inline national titles, gold in the 500m at the 2023 Pan American Games and a 2022 World Inline Championships gold.
At the Beijing 2022 Olympics she won the 500m in 37.04, ahead of Japan's Miho Takagi in 37.12 and Angelina Golikova in 37.21. US Speedskating wrote that she became the first Black woman to win an individual speed skating gold medal, and Team USA's profile calls her the first Black woman to win gold in an individual event at the Winter Olympics. At her first Olympics, PyeongChang 2018, she placed 24th in the 500m, by Team USA's results.
Flag bearer in Milan
Before the Milano Cortina 2026 Games, Jackson and bobsledder Frank Del Duca were chosen to carry the U.S. flag at the opening ceremony. NBC Olympics noted she was only the eighth speed skater selected as a Team USA flag bearer.
"Being chosen to represent the United States on the world stage is a tremendous honor," she said in the USOPC announcement quoted by NBC Olympics.
In the 500m on Feb. 15, 2026, she finished fifth in 37.32, 0.05 seconds off the podium, NBC Washington reported. The Netherlands' Femke Kok won in an Olympic-record 36.49. Team USA lists her sixth in the 1,000m. She had come into the Games after a hamstring injury at the third World Cup forced her to scratch two races, US Speedskating reported, and she still finished the World Cup season ranked third in the world in the 500m.
"I can't imagine stopping now, especially with the progress I made this season," she told NBC Washington, which reported that she hopes to qualify for the 2030 Winter Olympics.
A World Cup record of her own
Her US Speedskating profile lists her as the 500m World Cup overall champion in 2023-24 and 2024-25, and the 500m overall winner at the 2021-22 World Cup Final. At the World Championships she won team sprint silver in 2023 and 2024 and finished fifth in the 500m in 2023, 2024 and 2025. She also won Four Continents 500m titles in 2023-24 and 2024-25.
US Speedskating counted seven national records, two of them in the 500m, and 31 World Cup medals, 16 of them gold, before the 2026 Olympics.
Her Utah base
KSL's list of Utah's 2026 Winter Olympians, drawn from the Utah Sports Commission, named Jackson as a Utah resident with a Salt Lake Community College tie, and the Salt Lake Tribune headlined her flag-bearer selection "Utahn Erin Jackson," calling her an SLCC alumna.
The Deseret News reported in 2024 that she earned an associate degree in computer science from SLCC in 2020 and kept studying at the college toward other degrees, and that she gave the keynote address at SLCC's 2024 commencement. Team USA's profile says she is working on associate degrees in kinesiology and business there. She also holds a degree in materials science and engineering from the University of Florida, by her US Speedskating profile.
US Speedskating's 2026-27 Long Track National Team, announced July 7, 2026, is coached by Ryan Shimabukuro and Shani Davis with high performance director Andréa Do-Duc at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns. Jackson is one of its five women. The SLCC Olympians results story covers the wider group of SLCC athletes at the 2026 Games.
The 2026-27 season
The ISU's 2026-27 calendar opens the World Cup in Beijing on Nov. 13-15, 2026, then goes to Obihiro, Japan, Heerenveen, Netherlands, and Stavanger, Norway, before the new year. The Salt Lake City World Cup at the Utah Olympic Oval follows on Jan. 29-31, 2027, a week before Calgary on Feb. 5-7. The World Championships are in Beijing on Feb. 25-28, 2027.
She is one of the Utah athletes followed on the Utah 2034 Olympics hub.
Key facts:
- Athlete: Erin Jackson, long track speed skating (500m), 2026-27 US Speedskating Long Track National Team
- Hometown: Ocala, Florida; Utah resident, SLCC associate degree (2020), trains at the Utah Olympic Oval
- Olympic gold: 500m, Beijing 2022, 37.04
- First: first Black woman to win an individual speed skating gold medal, per US Speedskating
- American record: 500m, 36.57, Utah Olympic Oval, Nov. 16, 2025
- 2026 Olympics: U.S. flag bearer; fifth in the 500m (37.32), sixth in the 1,000m
- World Cup: 500m overall champion, 2023-24 and 2024-25
- Next in Utah: ISU World Cup, Utah Olympic Oval, Jan. 29-31, 2027
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