Warren savors her Olympic moment
Completing her sprint in the women’s long-track 500-meter final on Sunday, Sarah Warren waved to the crowd while taking a cool-down lap at the Milan Speed Skating Stadium.
She made a heart symbol with her fingers, then appeared to choke back emotions, the Willowbrook native perhaps contemplating all that it took for her to reach the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Warren, a graduate of Hinsdale South High School, sustained 10 lower-body surgeries, nine of them to her knees, to make her Olympic debut. Now living and training in Salt Lake City, Warren’s most recent surgery came less than five months before qualifying for the Games in January.
NBC commentator Ben Spaulding said Warren had 40 people watching her in the stadium, including some former teammates from the University of Illinois women’s soccer team, where Warren played from 2014-18. The crowd also included former United States Olympic superstar speed skaters Bonnie Blair and Eric Heiden.
Skating in the second pairing with Nikola Zdrahalova of Czechia, Warren finished 28th in the event at 39.19 seconds. She skated to a strong 10.76 in her first 100 meters.
Defending 500-meter gold medalist Erin Jackson of the United States was unable to repeat as champion. Jackson finished in fifth at 37.32.
The Netherlands went 1-2 in the event. World record holder Femke Kok won the gold medal with a women’s Olympic record of 36.49 skating against Jackson in the 15th and final pairing.
The Netherlands’ Jutta Leerdam earned the silver at 37.15 and Japan’s Miho Takagi won bronze at 37.27.
Earlier Sunday at the Milan arena, two-time Olympian Ethan Cepuran of Glen Ellyn joined Emery Lehman of Oak Park and Casey Dawson of Park City, Utah, in the quarterfinals of men’s team pursuit.
The Team USA trio, who won bronze in the event at the 2022 Beijing Games, finished the 8-lap heat in 3 minutes, 39.37 seconds. Italy’s time of 3:38.40 led the eight-team field, 97 seconds ahead of the United States.
Skating as a unit, Cepuran, Dawson and Lehman compiled either the fastest or second-fastest split times in each of the 16 stages.
They trailed only Japan’s first lap, then held the fastest split times until the last lap when they took it down a notch to follow only Italy’s speediest final lap.
The American team holds the world record in the event of 3:32.49 set in November at a world cup event in Salt Lake City. That is more than four seconds below the existing Olympic record of 3:36.62 set by Russia at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
The team pursuit semifinals and finals will be held starting at 7:30 a.m. CST on Tuesday.