Short track speedskating is the IndyCar racing of Olympic sports. It’s high speeds and high stakes, and it can be brutal.
Just ask Corinne Stoddard, who broke her nose when her knees smashed into her face during her first race of the 2022 Beijing Olympics. In Italy, she’s back for more.
“Short track is definitely one of the most dangerous sports,” said Stoddard, a Daybreak resident, “because we’re racing with basically knives under our feet that could slice an artery at any second.
“I’ve been really lucky with never cutting myself or having any broken bones [other than her nose] or anything, knock on wood, before the Games,” she added. “But yeah, I mean, it can be a pretty unforgiving sport.”
Stoddard expected the physical punishment when she committed to racing tight circles around an icy track while elbow-to-elbow with the competition. It was her psyche that threw the sucker punch.
Mental issues haunted Stoddard most of last season, causing her to miss the world championships during a stretch in which she often placed in the top four. Yet thanks to teammate Kristen Santos-Griswold — who has in turn leaned on Stoddard for support — she was able to manage those setbacks and return to the Olympic stage.
Together, Stoddard said, she and Santos-Griswold are a “dynamic duo.” The Wolf and the Fox. The two faces behind the @fastbutunstable Instagram account. And, perhaps, Team USA’s best chance to get its first women’s speedskating gold since 1994.
And this is officially their Olympic revenge tour.
“Just trying to be there and support her and keep her motivation up was really important for me,” Stoddard said. “Because I know that both of us can stand on the podium at the Olympics, and I would much prefer both of us be up there.”
From heartbreak to Italy
(Francisco Seco | AP) Kristen Santos-Griswold of the United States competes in the team mixed relay short track speed skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026.
Santos-Griswold practically had the Olympic medal in her pocket. With one lap to go in what she expected to be her final 1,000-meter final, she was in third place — and closing in on second. Then, the fifth-place skater lost her edge and slid into Santos-Griswold, wiping her off the track.
The skater was penalized, but it didn’t change the result. Santos-Griswold finished fourth.
“Not ending up on the podium was something that was really hard to deal with and kind of set me back,” the Salt Lake City resident said. “Like, maybe I’m not built out for this mentally. … I don’t know if I can handle this again, because it’s a big heartbreak.”
Santos-Griswold planned to retire after the 2022 Games. Ranked No. 2 in the world in the 1,000 meters, she envisioned herself collecting at least one medal and then moving on with her life. The crash threw her plans into disarray.
“I really had to decide if I did keep skating,” she said, “if it would be worth it if that happened again.”
In the immediate aftermath of the crash, with races still ahead and Beijing under strict COVID protocols, Santos-Griswold found solace in Stoddard. The two had been friends for a couple years, though at the beginning it was more of a mentor-mentee relationship. It blossomed after Stoddard started joining Santos-Griswold on World Cup podiums and the pair became training partners.
Santos-Griswold said she saw therapists and psychologists. But more than a year after the crash, when she still hadn’t committed to returning, it was Stoddard who asked her to relive that dreadful day. If it happened again in Italy, she asked, could she handle it?
Stoddard said she didn’t try to nudge her friend one way or another. Still, Santos-Griswold decided she had more to give.
“That made it so that she would skate another four years,” Stoddard said. “I’m obviously devastated that she lost a medal in Beijing, but I’m also happy she continued to skate another four years.”
Stoddard appreciated having Santos-Griswold in her orbit over the past year, when mental struggles threatened to derail her own Olympic pursuit.
Pulling each other forward
(Ashley Landis | AP) Corinne Stoddard, right, of the United States crashes as Courtney Sarault of Canada avoids her while competing in the team mixed relay short track speed skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026.
Stoddard wondered how long she could survive on two hours of sleep a night. For months, she hadn’t been able to turn off her brain. Thoughts of how to be more efficient, more perfect, kept ping-ponging around her head.
It was worse than any injury she’d suffered in her career.
“That really took a toll on me,” she said. “It was really hard to deal with. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to skate this year.”
Somehow, her skating was still some of the best in the world. Stoddard consistently stood on the podium of World Cup events, though never on the top step. She closed out the 2024-25 season ranked No. 1 in the world in the 1,000 meters. But with the world championships looming, she decided to follow Santos-Griswold’s lead and take a step back. Instead of competing, she sought help.
She hasn’t solved the problem, Stoddard said, but she’s found some workarounds.
By leaning on one another, Santos-Griswold and Stoddard are helping each other keep perspective while also pursuing gold.
Last summer, they created a joint Instagram account, @fastbutunstable — a nod to their sport as well as their mental struggles. In one early post, for example, Santos-Griswold keeps track of the number of days in which she didn’t cry at practice.
Heading into Italy, they commissioned complementary race helmets. Stoddard’s features a fox, Santos-Griswold’s a wolf. The inspiration for the design, Stoddard said, is their respective dogs.
Perhaps the purpose is to let them channel their inner animals, while also reminding them there are things important to them outside of skating.
“We’re obviously a dynamic duo off the ice [and] on the ice,” Stoddard said. “So we just wanted to represent that going into this Games together. And the fact that we both have potential to be on the podium together, it’s just something really special.”
Santos-Griswold advanced Wednesday into Thursday’s 500-meter quarterfinals, as did teammate Julie Latai, also of Utah. Stoddard crashed in her opening heat. Both are scheduled to race in the 1,000 meters. That event begins Saturday with medal races set for Monday.