Brittany Starr Bowe (born February 24, 1988) is an American

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...

and former

inline skater Inline skates are a type of roller skates, roller skate used for inline skating. Unlike quad skates, which have two front and two rear wheels, inline skates typically have two to five wheels arranged in a single line. Some, especially those for ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. She has eight gold, one silver, and two bronze medals from the world inline speedskating championships. From her junior years, she has another 21 world championship medals. She also has a gold medal from the combined sprint event in

roller skating at the 2007 Pan American Games Inline speed skating, Roller skating competitions at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro was held in July 2007 at the Miécimo da Silva Complex. Events Men ;Speed ;Artistic Women ;Speed ;Artistic Medal table References Resul ...

. In speed skating, she has specialized in the 500, 1000 and 1500 meters, and she won the bronze medal on the 1000 meters distance in the 2013 World Single Distance Championships. In the 2015 World Single Distance Championships, she won the gold medal on the same distance, as well as another gold medal in the 1500 meters, and the silver medal in the 500 meters. Two weeks later, she also won the 2015 World Sprint Championships, winning all four races along the way. She has two bronze medals, from the 2018 and 2022 Olympics. For her performance in the 1000 metres competition of the Single Distance Championships, Bowe was awarded the 2015

Oscar Mathisen Award Since 1959, the Oscar Mathisen Award (also known as the Oscar Mathisen Memorial Award, the Oscar Mathisen Memorial Trophy, and sometimes the Skating Oscar) is awarded annually for outstanding speed skating performance of the season. The award was in ...

. Bowe is the current world record holder on the 1000 meters distance, and has previously held the 1500 metres world record, on which distance she holds the American record.

Early life

Bowe was born in

Ocala, Florida Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County within the northern region of Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 63,591, making it the 54th most populated city in Florida. Home to ...

, to Michael and Deborah Bowe (''née'' Starr), and grew up practicing several sports from an early age, including basketball and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

. At the age of 2, she would give dribbling exhibitions at halftime of college basketball games. Though making it to a statewide under-13 boys travel team in soccer, she gave that sport up, because of overlapping seasons with basketball. She attended the Trinity Catholic High School in Ocala, and then

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Florida, Dania Beach, Davie, Florida, Davie, Fort Lauderd ...

Boca Raton Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

, where she played basketball for the

Florida Atlantic Owls The Florida Atlantic Owls are the athletics teams of Florida Atlantic University. The Owls participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I as members of Conference USA. On October 21, 2021, Florida Atlantic accep ...

. She graduated in 2010, majoring in sociology and social science. Bowe has shared that she is a lesbian.

Inline speed skating

In 1996, at the age of 8, Bowe tried

inline skating Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a ...

. She competed at increasingly higher levels, ultimately participating in world championships from 2002 to 2008, where she won 32 medals altogether, 11 of which came in senior championships.

Basketball

After the 2008 world championships in inline speed skating, Bowe focused on her basketball game, playing as a

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

for the

Florida Atlantic statistics

Source

Speed skating

Watching friends from the inline years, such as

Chad Hedrick Chad Hedrick (born April 17, 1977) is an American inline speed skater and ice speed skater. He was born in Spring, Texas. Hedrick revolutionized the inline speed skating world with his unique technique, called the double push, or DP. During hi ...

and

Heather Richardson Heather Bergsma (''née'' Richardson; born March 20, 1989) is an American former speed skater who competed between 2006 and 2020. Career Bergsma is a native of North Carolina. She represented the United States at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vanc ...

, participating in the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

, Bowe decided to pause her basketball career, and moved to

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

in 2010 to take up speed skating. She soon enjoyed success, and on January 19 and 20, 2013, she earned her first podium placings in the

ISU Speed Skating World Cup The ISU Speed Skating World Cup is a series of international speed skating competitions, organised annually by the International Skating Union since the winter of 1985–86 ISU Speed Skating World Cup, 1985–86. Every year during the winter season, ...

, finishing third in both races over the 1000 metres distance at the World Cup stop in

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,30 ...

, Canada. Six weeks later, on March 3, she won her first World Cup gold medal in the 1000 metres at the World Cup stop in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

, Germany. Overall, she finished second in the women's 1000 metres World Cup, after Heather Richardson. On March 23, 2013, Bowe won her first world championship medal in speed skating, a bronze, in the women's 1000 metres distance of the

World Single Distance Championships The World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships are a series of speed skating competitions organised by the International Skating Union. History Since the late 19th century, speed skating championships were always decided by racing multiple ...

, finishing behind Olga Fatkulina of Russia and

Ireen Wüst Irene Karlijn (Ireen) Wüst (; born 1 April 1986) is a Dutch former long track speed skater. Wüst became the most successful speed skating olympian ever by achieving at least one gold medal in each of five consecutive Winter Olympic appearances ...

of the Netherlands. On November 17, 2013, Bowe set a new world record on 1000 meters with a time of 1:12.58 in the World Cup stop in

. Over the 2013–14 World Cup season, she collected a total of five podium placings in the 1000 metres World Cup, one gold, three silver, and one bronze medal, for an overall silver medal, behind Heather Richardson. In the 1500 metres World Cup, Bowe collected one gold, one silver, and one bronze medal, for an overall bronze medal, behind Dutch skaters Ireen Wüst and

Lotte van Beek Lotte van Beek (; born 9 December 1991) is a retired Dutch speed skater. She finished second on the women's 1500 metres event at the 2013 World Single Distance Championships. At the 2014 Winter Olympics, she was part of the Dutch team who wo ...

. The

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

, Russia, was somewhat of a disappointment, with Bowe finishing 13th in the

500 metres The 500 metres is a rarely run middle-distance running event in track and field competitions. All-time top 25 *i = indoor performance *OT = oversized track (exceeding 200m in circumference) *A = affected by altitude *h = hand timing Men *C ...

, 8th in the

1000 metres The 1000 metres is an uncommon middle-distance running event in track and field competitions. The 1000 yards, an imperial alternative, was sometimes also contested. All-time top 25 *h = hand timed *i = indoor performance *A = affected by ...

, and 14th in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

. In the 2015 World Single Distance Championships, she won gold medals in the 1000 and 1500 meters, and a silver in the 500 meters. She also won the 2015 World Sprint Championships. Over the 2014–15 World Cup season, Bowe collected four podium placings, three silver and one bronze, for an overall 5th place in the 500 metres World Cup, five podium placings, three gold and two silver, for an overall win in 1000 metres World Cup, and three podium placings, one gold and two silver, for an overall bronze medal in the 1500 metres World Cup.

Records

Personal records

World records

Results timeline

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowe, Brittany 1988 births Living people American female speed skaters American roller skaters Inline speed skaters Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in speed skating Speed skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Pan American Games medalists in roller skating Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Roller speed skaters at the 2007 Pan American Games Florida Atlantic University alumni Florida Atlantic Owls women's basketball players Sportspeople from Ocala, Florida Basketball players from Florida World Sprint Speed Skating Championships medalists World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships medalists Point guards Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games American women's basketball players Lesbian sportswomen American LGBT sportspeople LGBT basketball players LGBT speed skaters LGBT people from Florida 20th-century American women 21st-century American women