‘Nerve-wracking and exciting’: Hometown crowd cheers on suburban skaters

The rattle of plastic hand clappers filled the Glen Ellyn History Center Sunday morning as supporters cheered on suburban speedskaters Ethan Cepuran and Sarah Warren in the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

Cepuran, who grew up in Glen Ellyn and attended Glenbard West High School, raced in the men’s team pursuit. He and teammates Casey Dawson and Emery Lehman, of Oak Park, finished second in Sunday's quarterfinal heat to advance to Tuesday's semifinals.

Warren, a Willowbrook native and Hinsdale South High School graduate, placed 28th in the women's 500-meter race. But just making the Olympics was an accomplishment for Warren, who’s endured a series of injuries and 10 surgeries on her road to the Winter Games.

Both trained at the Glen Ellyn Speedskating club, which has nurtured Olympic athletes dating back to the 1960 Squaw Valley games.

“They have a very special bond together because they grew up skating together,” club coach Emilie Glogowski said.

Among the supporters riveted to the action were Cepuran's aunts, Jean DiMonte and Linda Ray.

“It was exhilarating,” Ray said after the race. “I'm just so proud of them. They are an amazing group of boys and they always skate their best.”

DiMonte said the race was exciting, but added, “My gosh, you're making my heart go too high.”

Cepuran's cousin, Hannah Bruce, said it was “nerve-wracking and exciting. I was shaking the whole time.”

Melissa Koenig, president of the Glen Ellyn Speedskating Club, said she remembers Cepuran when he was about 10 years old boldly declaring that he planned to skate a 500-meter race in under a minute and beat her time in the process.

Both wound up beating the one-minute mark at the same event nearly two years later — and his time was faster.

Warren will not leave Italy with a medal, but her unconventional journey that included a detour to play soccer at the University of Illinois is its own triumph.

“It is a race in which you have to be incredibly precise,” Koenig said of the 500-meter spring. “A lot of times, people will say, 'Oh, I'm only three seconds off the world record.' Well, three seconds is a lifetime in a 500.”

Several young club members attended Sunday’s watch party, including 14-year-old Hannah Bernstein.

“We're still in the same club, so we're technically teammates. It's really cool to watch and support them,” she said of the Olympians.