MILAN — Mia Manganello narrowly missed the 2010 Olympics. She won bronze eight years later in Pyeongchang. And in her final Olympic race, she’s a bronze medalist again.
It came in the women’s mass start — the most chaotic, unpredictable race in speedskating.
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Manganello is one of the handful of U.S. speedskaters who got their start inline skating before finding her way to the ice. But after coming up short of qualifying for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, Manganello hung up her skates, hopped on a bike and became a professional cyclist.
In 2016, she returned to the skates, qualified for the 2018 Games where she took bronze in team pursuit. Four years ago in Beijing, she took fourth in the mass start — missing the podium by a little more than a second.
Saturday, in the final race of her Olympic career, the 36-year-old won her first individual medal.
For most of the 16-lap race, where 16 racers are on the ice at the same time, the pack remained in tact, unlike in the men’s race moments earlier. It wasn’t until the bell lap that the race really began.
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Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands and Manganello were first to sprint out, followed tightly by Canada’s Ivanie Blondin. From there, it was a three-woman race for gold. Groenewoud pulled ahead of Manganello, then Blondin caught the American — beating Manganello to the line by .30.
Groenewoud took gold with a time of 8:34.70, just ahead of Blondin (8:35.09) and Manganello (8:35.39).
After crossing the line, Manganello raised her arms in triumph. Sixteen years after her first attempt at the Olympics ended before she ever got there, she’s won a second bronze on her way out.
