Speedskaters Lana Gehring and John-Henry Krueger earn spots on U.S. Olympic team

Kearns • Lana Gehring was on track to punch her ticket to Pyeongchang, South Korea, only a few laps left to skate, when she went crashing into the wall at the Utah Olympic Oval.

The pile-up in the finals of the women’s 1,500-meter race might have derailed a less experienced skater. Gehring, however, wasn’t about to let her opportunity slip away.

“I was a little riled up about it. I didn’t like why we fell,” Gehring said Friday night. “But for myself, it helped me reset a little bit.”

Gehring survived the crash and fought off fellow Olympic hopeful Jessica Kooreman to become the first U.S. short-track skater to guarantee a spot in the 2018 Olympics.

“I can’t be more pleased with my performance,” said Gehring, who won both of the women’s 1,500-meter finals Friday.

Gehring already has an Olympic medal. She won a bronze at the 2010 Games. But as she celebrated Friday night, the smile and gold medal she flashed showed how much these victories mean for the 27-year-old after an eight-year gap between trips to the Olympics.

“A lot of nerves leading up to this race,” she said after winning the first 1,500-meter final of the night. “It’s been like eight years since I got the chance to be feeling good enough to make the team. … It’s a pretty big thing.”

Gehring will be joined in Pyeongchang by John-Henry Krueger, whose second- and first-place finishes in the 1,500 on Friday guaranteed him a spot on the team.

Krueger found himself locked in a battle with veteran skater J.R. Celski for the first spot on the men’s team Friday night. Celski, a three-time Olympic medalist, cruised to an easy victory in the first 1,500-meter finals. But even after the win, the experienced Celski knew his night wasn’t over.

“I’ve just got to keep my head down and keep plugging away,” he said after his first final of the night. “It’s a long weekend of races. … I have to keep grinding away.”

Celski’s remarks proved prescient. In his second final, Celski crashed and Krueger skated his way to a first-place finish and a spot in Korea.

“It’s a dream come true,” Krueger said. “The first couple of seconds I couldn’t believe it, but as soon as I was hugging my mom and saw her crying, I knew I wasn’t going to wake up and it be a dream.”

The weekend of races at the oval features 32 U.S. skaters, 16 men and 16 women. By the end of Sunday, the races will finalize the U.S. speed skating team — five men and three women — ahead of February’s Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.

“It’s definitely a lot of weight off the shoulders to know that I am on the team now,” Krueger said. “But there’s a lot of work to be done. I have to qualify in the other races. It’s not time to party yet.”