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.^[2] From her junior years, she has another 21 world championship medals.^[2] She also has a gold medal from the combined sprint event in roller skating at the 2007 Pan American Games.^[2]

Brittany Bowe

Brittany Bowe in 2007
Personal information
Birth name	Brittany Starr Bowe[1]
Born	(1988-02-24) February 24, 1988 (age 37) Ocala, Florida, US
Height	5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
Weight	145 lb (66 kg)
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Speed skating
Event(s)	500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m
Coached by	Ryan Shimabukuro
Medal record Representing the  United States Women's speed skating Olympic Games 2018 Pyeongchang Team pursuit 2022 Beijing 1000 m World Sprint Championships 2015 Astana Sprint 2016 Seoul Sprint 2018 Changchun Sprint 2019 Heerenveen Sprint World Single Distances Championships 2015 Heerenveen 1000 m 2015 Heerenveen 1500 m 2019 Inzell 1000 m 2021 Heerenveen 1000 m 2015 Heerenveen 500 m 2016 Kolomna 500 m 2021 Heerenveen 1500 m 2024 Calgary Team sprint 2013 Sochi 1000 m 2016 Kolomna 1000 m 2016 Kolomna 1500 m 2019 Inzell 1500 m 2023 Heerenveen Team pursuit Four Continents Championships 2025 Hachinohe 1000 m 2024 Salt Lake City Team sprint Women's inline speed skating World Championships (road) 2006 Anyang 5000 m relay 2007 Cali 500 m 2007 Cali 5000 m relay 2008 Gijón 5000 m relay 2007 Cali 200 m World Championships (track) 2006 Anyang 3000 m relay 2007 Cali 3000 m relay 2008 Gijón 300 m 2008 Gijón 3000 m relay 2008 Gijón 1000 m 2008 Gijón 500 m Pan American Games 2007 Rio de Janeiro Combined sprint

In speed skating, she has specialized in the 500, 1000 and 1500 meters,^[3] and she won the bronze medal on the 1000 meters distance in the 2013 World Single Distance Championships.^[4] In the 2015 World Single Distance Championships, she won the gold medal on the same distance,^[5][6] as well as another gold medal in the 1500 meters,^[7][8][9] and the silver medal in the 500 meters.^[10][11] Two weeks later, she also won the 2015 World Sprint Championships, winning all four races along the way.^[12] 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.^[13]

Bowe is the current world record holder in the 1000 meters distance,^[14] and has previously held the 1500 meters world record,^[15] in which distance she holds the American record.^[16]

Early life

Bowe was born in Ocala, Florida,^[2][3][17] 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.^[18] Though making it to a statewide under-13 boys travel team in soccer, she gave that sport up, because of overlapping seasons with basketball.^[18]

She attended the Trinity Catholic High School in Ocala,^[19] and then Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton,^[3] where she played basketball for the Florida Atlantic Owls. She graduated in 2010, majoring in sociology and social science.^[3][18] Bowe has shared that she is a lesbian^[20] and began dating ice hockey player Hilary Knight in 2022.^[21]

Inline speed skating

In 1996, at the age of 8, Bowe tried inline skating.^[18] She competed at increasingly higher levels, ultimately participating in world championships from 2002 to 2008,^[2] where she won 32 medals altogether, 11 of which came in senior championships.^[17]

Basketball

After the 2008 world championships in inline speed skating, Bowe focused on her basketball game,^[2][18] playing as a point guard for the Florida Atlantic Owls.^[18][19]

Florida Atlantic statistics

Source^[22]

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Year	Team	GP	Points	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2006–07	Florida Atlantic	30	161	32.4%	28.1%	56.4%	2.2	0.9	1.0	0.1	5.4
2007–08	Florida Atlantic	28	244	29.2%	26.9%	62.5%	3.3	4.1	1.5	0.1	8.7
2008–09	Florida Atlantic	29	316	33.8%	11.4%	72.0%	3.9	3.7	2.1	-	10.9
2009–10	Florida Atlantic	29	354	40.3%	12.5%	70.0%	4.1	4.7	1.7	0.0	12.2
Career		116	1075	34.2%	21.7%	67.0%	3.3	3.3	1.6	0.0	9.3

Speed skating

Bowe at the World Single Distance Championships in Sochi, Russia, in March 2013

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.^[2]

She soon enjoyed success, and on January 19 and 20, 2013, she earned her first podium placings in the ISU Speed Skating World Cup, finishing third in both races over the 1000 metres distance at the World Cup stop in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.^[23][24] 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.^[25][26] Overall, she finished second in the women's 1000 metres World Cup, after Heather Richardson.^[27]

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.^[4]

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 Salt Lake City.^[28] 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^[5][6] and 1500 meters,^[7][8][9] and a silver in the 500 meters.^[10][11] She also won the 2015 World Sprint Championships.^[12]

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

Personal records[29]
Speed skating
Event	Result	Date	Location	Notes
500 m	37.03	November 20, 2015	Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
1000 m	1:11.61	March 9, 2019	Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City	Current world record.[14]
1500 m	1:50.32	March 10, 2019	Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
3000 m	4:13.99	November 2, 2012	Pettit National Ice Center, Milwaukee

World records

World records[30]
Speed skating
Event	Result	Date	Location	Notes
1000 m	1:12.58	November 17, 2013	Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City	World record until beaten by Heather Richardson-Bergsma on November 14, 2015.[31]
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.[31]
1500 m	1:51.59	November 15, 2015	Olympic Oval, Calgary	World record until beaten by Heather Richardson-Bergsma on November 21, 2015.[15]
1000 m	1:11.61	March 9, 2019	Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City	Current world record.[14]

Results timeline

Season	World Sprint	World SD	World Cup	Olympic Games
2011–12	18th	16th 2x500 m 8th 1000 m	20th 500 m 10th 1000 m 31st 1500 m	Not held
2012–13	8th	14th 2x500 m 1000 m	15th 500 m 1000 m 28th 1500 m
2013–14	Did not participate	Not held	11th 500 m 1000 m 1500 m 3rd GWC	13th 2x500 m 8th 1000 m 14th 1500 m 6th team pursuit
2014–15		2x500 m 1000 m 1500 m	5th 500 m 1000 m 1500 m 28th mass start 3rd GWC	Not held
2015–16		2x500 m 1000 m 1500 m
2024–25			15th, 7th 500 m 5th, , 5th, 6th 1000 m 6th, 6th, 11th, 11th 1500 m , Team pursuit

^[32][33]

World Cup overall trophy

Season	1000 meter	Points	1500 meter	Points
2015–2016		710		590
2018–2019		397		378
2019–2020		326	—
2020–2021		120		120
2021–2022		330		256
2023–2024		297	—
2024–2025		256