Brittany Bowe

Brittany Starr Bowe (born February 24, 1988) is an American speed skater and former inline skater and basketball player. She has won 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. 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.

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

Early life Bowe was born in Ocala, Florida, to Michael and Deborah Bowe (née Starr), and grew up practicing several sports from an early age, including basketball and soccer. 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. and then Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, She competed at increasingly higher levels, ultimately participating in world championships from 2002 to 2008, where she won 32 medals altogether.

Bowe is a 13-time medalist at the World Single Distances Championships (four gold, four silver, and five bronze). She has won medals four times at the World Sprint Championships (two gold, one silver, one bronze).

After the 2008 world championships in inline speed skating, Bowe shifted focus to her basketball career, playing as a point guard for the Florida Atlantic Owls. Watching former inline skating contemporaries Chad Hedrick and Heather Richardson compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics, she was inspired to transition to speed skating and moved to Salt Lake City in 2010 to pursue the sport full time.

Speed skating

Watching friends from the inline years, such as Chad Hedrick and Heather Richardson, participating in the 2010 Winter Olympics, Bowe decided to pause her basketball career, and moved to Salt Lake City in 2010 to take up speed skating. 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, 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, finishing behind Olga Fatkulina of Russia and Ireen Wüst of the Netherlands. 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.

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, was somewhat of a disappointment, with Bowe finishing 13th in the 500 metres, 8th in the 1000 metres, and 14th in the 1500 metres.

In the 2015 World Single Distance Championships, she won gold medals in the 1000

In 2022 Olympic qualifications for the United States speed skating team, fellow speed skater and longtime friend to Bowe, Erin Jackson, slipped during the 500m race. Though Bowe had earned a qualification spot for this distance, she gave up her spot to Jackson, as Jackson was considered a favorite . Jackson went on to win the gold medal in the 2022 Olympics for this event. Bowe was selected to be a flag bearer for the United States during the opening ceremony after the original bearer, Elana Meyers Taylor, tested positive for COVID-19 . Bowe earned a bronze medal in the 1000m event.

Prior to the 2026 Olympics, Bowe announced that they would be her last. She competed in the 1000m, 1500m, and team pursuit events, finishing fourth in all three events .

Records Personal records

PersonalRecordsMiddle|1000 m|1:12.18|November 22, 2015|Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City|World record until beaten by Nao Kodaira on December 10, 2017.

World Cup overall trophy

Personal life Bowe is a lesbian and began dating ice hockey player Hilary Knight in 2022. They got engaged during the 2026 Winter Olympics.