Patrick Meek

Patrick Meek (born November 10, 1985) is an American speed skater who represented the United States at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Meek began speed skating at age two, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. After high school, he moved to Utah to further his speed skating career. He made the national team in 2006 and participated in the 2006 and 2010 Olympic Trials without success.

Meek placed second in the 10,000 meters at the 2012–2013 National Championships. In 2013, he won two national titles taking the 25,000 and 50,000 meter events. In December, he placed third in the 5,000 meters at the Olympic Trials and thus qualified for his first Olympics. At the Olympics, Meek placed 20th in the 5,000 meters and 10th in the 10,000 meters after being added to the start list when other skaters withdrew.

Early life and education Patrick Meek was born November 10, 1985, in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, into a family of avid speed skaters. He grew up in the Chicago suburbs before moving to St. Louis, Missouri. As of 2014, he is working on a post-graduate degree at Ashworth College. He elected to pursue distance events, realizing he did not have the proper physical characteristics for sprints and was well suited psychologically for long races. At the 2006 Olympic Trials, Meek had no aspirations of making the team but turned in a personal best in the 10,000 meters. 2010 was a different story – Meek expected to make the team and was devastated when his personal best time came up short. "At that moment, I [couldn't] get past the fact that I didn’t make the Olympic team", he later commented. "It was tough watching the event you’d committed your life to [on TV]." A few days later, Meek turned in a personal best time of 13:23.16 in the 10,000 meters, but came up 0.39 seconds short of the only qualifying spot in the event, placing third.

A the Olympics, Meek placed 20th in the 5000 meters with a time of 6:32.94. When several skaters from other nations withdrew from the 10,000 meters, Meek was selected from the alternate list to participate in the event. He finished the race in 13:28.72, placing 11th, five hundredths of a second behind Lehman. "Honestly I just started laughing," Meek said of the difference. "We were so close at trials and so close today."

Due to his difficult workouts, Meek has earned the nickname "Mule." He explains: "I don't always look pretty out there ... I am not the favorite barn animal. [But], more often than not, I get the job done out there." Meek does a lot of extreme distance training (100+ laps at a time) which he says helps him in the 5,000 meter (12.5 laps) and 10,000 meter (25 laps) races. He has two sisters who live with his parents in Naples, Florida.