Speed Skater Greta Meyers Had Two Hours Notice for Her Olympic Debut

When Greta Meyers was 13, she stood at a crossroads. Hockey was her everything: the sport she'd grown up loving, the identity she'd built, the only future she'd imagined. But, the new and unfamiliar world of speed-skating was calling, and she answered.

"When I was 13, I chose to pursue speed skating over continuing a career in hockey," she reflects. "And it's brought me so incredibly far. I've met so many amazing people, traveled the world, experienced competing on the highest stage. It's honestly been incredible."

A decade later, she was standing at the start line of her first Olympic race. But she’ll say that the path to get there (specifically, the last twelve months) was the hardest thing she'd ever done.

The Leap Nobody Takes

Going into an Olympic year, Meyers made a decision that athletes simply don't make in Olympic years. She switched training programs and left behind years of work with her sprint coach and committed to a new team, a new system, a new everything — because the women's team pursuit needed her to, and she knew it.

"I had to really take a big shot, a big leap of faith, and switch training programs in an Olympic year…which is completely unheard of," she says. "It was something that I was incredibly anxious about. I was leaving what I knew worked really well for me, and committing to something scary and new. I didn’t know how my body would respond to it."

Speed skating, she explains, has so many variables that have to line up for optimal performance. Change one and the whole equation shifts. She changed everything, all at once, in the year it mattered most.

Initially, it didn't go smoothly.

"At the start of this season, I experienced so many setbacks and frustrations with my blades. For months during the qualification period, we were trying to earn the U.S. Olympic spot at the World Cups, and I was experiencing so much turbulence with my blades and just struggling in my own skating. The times showed that I was skating fairly well, but I just felt like I didn't know what I was doing…which was very stressful."

By the second World Cup of the season, just months away from the Games, the tears came. 

"By the second World Cup, I was battling burnout. There were a lot of tears. I was super frustrated. Stress and tension runs high in an Olympic year and I had never felt the type of pressure that I had this year. And just when things went wrong that were outside of my control, it added a whole other level of stress to my plate."

She pauses.

"Coping was really hard."

Olympic Trials

Then came Olympic trials. The 1500 — a distance she was favored to make the team in, a spot she had already earned at the World Cup. She showed up and raced. 

Then, she got disqualified for interference on the back stretch. 

"I raced, I qualified, and then I got disqualified. That was really hard. I had to do the same race again after pretty much an hour, which was pretty insane, honestly."

She had one hour before re-racing the most important race of her life, She called her sports psychologist, leaned on her teammates, and her family. 

"Having people to just share your thoughts with, that have a different perspective, and can help you see the big picture…I've found it really calms my anxiety and helps me refocus my approach."

She went back out. An hour after a disqualification that would have destroyed most athletes. She raced again.

She made the team.

"At that moment, I put so much trust into my training and trust into myself and my skating. I believed deep down that I was capable of doing it. I'm really proud of how I approached that. I'm proud of what I've overcome and learned this season."

And then: "The feeling of relief that I’d be able to skate at the Olympics was immense.”

An Olympic Debut On 2 Hours Notice

She made it to Milan with her eyes set on the team pursuit race on February 14th. Although she was first on the reserve list for the 3000m individual event, she had accepted she wouldn’t skate as it’s rare for any athlete to give up the chance to race at the Olympics. So on the day of the 3000m, she proceeded with an usually brutal morning training session.

At the very end of practice, Meyers and her teammate Giorgia Birkeland go down. They crash into the pads and crumple onto the ice. Giorgia's elbow is scraped raw while Meyers picks herself up and sits there, still processing what just happened.

Her coach walks over.

"He's like, 'Hey Greta, you just got into the 3K, what should we do?' And I was like… can you give me a minute? Georgia was over in the corner and her whole elbow was scraped up, there was blood all over her suit. We were just kind of still in shock that we crashed, because we never crash."

She had two hours. Two hours to eat something, get her body moving, and show up to compete in her first Olympic race.

"My body was cooked. I had just walked in the Opening Ceremonies the night before. In that moment, I just kind of accepted that that was the reality. I was just gonna get to skate, and I was just gonna do my best, and whatever happened, happened. The expectations of that race weren't super high, just because it wasn't something we were preparing for. It wasn't the intention or focus of my Games."

She made her way to the tunnel that leads to the locker rooms. And that's where it hit her.

"It kind of sunk in when I was in the tunnel. I started tearing up a little bit, because it finally hit me that I was about to live my childhood dream, something I'd just worked for my entire life. It really sunk in that I was actually about to compete at the Olympics."

And the moment she stepped onto Olympic ice to compete for the first time? Surreal.

"I was just so ecstatic to be there, even though I was really tired and my body felt horrible. Taking in the atmosphere, everyone in the crowd was amazing, cheering me on. The amount of support and love I received from my hometown, my community, all my friends and family, and just people I don't even know…it was so incredibly special."

Controlling the Controllables

Here's what doesn't fit neatly into a highlight package: the season that produced Greta Meyers' Olympic debut was also the hardest season of her life.

And every single time, she found a way through.

"The biggest takeaway for me in coping with all the stress and anxiety and the hardship of sport (and struggling with burnout while at the Olympics and at Olympic trials) is honestly just: control what you can control. That's the biggest thing for me. Not getting stuck on every tiny little thing that's kind of out of my hands. I have to try and approach it positively and figure it out.”

ABOUT THIS SERIES

I'm Amy Wotovich nd I am on a mission to interview 100% of Team USA's 2026 Olympic and Paralympic athletes to create the most comprehensive mindset record of a single Games cycle. What do elite competitors actually believe about pressure, identity, failure, and joy? Greta Meyers is one of hundreds of athletes sharing their unfiltered answers. Follow the journey!