MILAN (AP) — Casey Dawson withdrew from the men’s 10,000-meter speed skating race at the Cortina Olympics in Milan on Friday hours before the event, leaving the event without its only American competitor.
US Speed Skating said Dawson wants to focus on Sunday’s team pursuit event and next Thursday’s 1,500-meter individual event. Dawson finished eighth in the 5,000 meters last weekend.
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Team USA head coach Gabe Girard said the decision “is not a surprise and has been part of the selection for the Winter Olympics.”
The United States hasn’t won an Olympic gold medal in the 10,000 meters since Eric Heiden won five times at the 1980 Lake Placid Games. The country’s last medal in speed skating’s longest distance event was Chad Hedrick’s silver medal at the 2006 Turin Olympics.
Competitors on Friday include Norway’s Sander Eitrem, who won an Olympic record 5,000 meters in Milan, and Italy’s Davide Giotto, who set a 10,000-meter world record of 12 minutes, 25.69 seconds in January 2025 and won a bronze medal in the event at Beijing 2022.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
