Minnesota native Greta Myers opens up about Olympic hopes in speed skating
Gliding on ice at high speeds. This is life for Greta Myers.
"I would say speed skating is honestly more of an art," said Myers. "It's all about learning to skate in a way that's as efficient as possible and maintain top speed without dumping it."
Like many Minnesotans, Myers' first ice skates were hockey skates. She played for Centennial and Roseville growing up. It was at the Roseville Oval that her path changed forever.
"I was at practice one day, and the coach for the high-performance speed skating team at the time, Andre Zukov came up to me afterwards. He's a Russian guy, so they have a little bit different of a mentality. He's like, 'Come speed skate, your country needs you.' And I was like, I don't know, 12 at the time. And I was like, 'Ok,'" Myers said.
She was always the fastest on her hockey teams. The transition was smooth, making rapid progress, competing and winning internationally. Now, she lives and trains in Salt Lake City.
"It's a full-time job for me, but it's also an incredible opportunity to travel the world and compete against the best skaters there are," Myers said, as WCCO caught up with her in Roseville during her short offseason this spring. "It's honestly an amazing thing to do."
From a young age, Myers had dreams of being an Olympian. She just didn't know what sport would take her there.
"I grew up watching Michael Phelps and all the gymnastics girls," Myers said. "Just seeing them with a medal around their neck always truly inspired me to achieve greatness in sports."
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy, are less than a year away. Myers hopes to make her first team. Recently, she's been energized by a milestone mass start race win.
"It was really exciting for me. Gave me a great boost of confidence that this could be something that I could pull off at the games when it truly matters. So hopefully I'll get the opportunity, and if I do, I'll definitely take it because I know that I can do well."
