By Michael C. Lewis

| The Salt Lake Tribune

Kearns • Brittany Bowe is hardly the only speedskater who grew up in a sun-splashed southern state, making a name for herself in the inline skating world before switching over to the ice for a shot at the Olympics.

But she might be the only one who played point guard, too.

Photos

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At a glance

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World Cup Speedskating

At the Utah Olympic Oval, Kearns

Times » Saturday, noon; Sunday, noon

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The 23-year-old Florida native was a standout basketball player at Florida Atlantic University before blossoming into one of the up-and-coming stars for U.S. Speedskating. You’d have to figure she was good in transition, too, considering Bowe needed little more than a year from the time she moved to the ice from inline skating to reach the World Cup circuit.

"This season has been fun," she said, "and I hope it gets better from here."

Bowe will continue her inaugural season at the elite level when she joins skaters from around the world in World Cup sprint races at the Utah Olympic Oval on Saturday and Sunday. She won’t be among the leaders in the 500 and 1,000 meters — not yet — but she will be gaining valuable experience that could turn her into a star in the future.

"Her biggest attribute is her athleticism," national team coach Ryan Shimabukuro said. "She learns quick. … The transition has happened a lot faster than expected. We just need to fine-tune the technical aspects — from the starts to the turns. Everything counts, and that takes a little bit of time."

Even while competing for the Owls in basketball, Bowe was a star inline skater — much like predecessors such as Derek Parra, Jennifer Rodriguez, Chad Hedrick and Heather Richardson.

She won two gold medals at inline world championships, and moved to Utah shortly after graduating college in 2010, in order to start training on the ice. (Inline skating is not an Olympic event.) Already this season, she has competed at three World Cup events, with her best performance coming in a 12th place finish in the 1,000meters in Astana, Kazakhstan.

She also won a "B" group 500 meters in Astana, a promising 1.37 seconds behind the "A" group winner, world-record holder Jenny Wolf of Germany.

"I can improve technically," Bowe said. "I have a great support team, and strength and conditioning is not the issue. Hopefully that can get me a long way."

It apparently has, already.

And Bowe sees some similarities between her old sport — she scored more than 1,000 points in her career at FAU, and was named the university’s most outstanding athlete as a senior — and her current one.

"Even though this is an individual sport, teamwork is a great aspect of it," she said. "The team aspect has carried over and hopefully I can be a good team player on the national team."

mcl@sltrib.com