EMMA DE BOCK

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I'm Emma De Bock, a 17-year-old long-track speed skater from Farmington, Utah, and if you had told me a few years ago that I'd be writing this—talking about winning the Viking Race overall title as the first American in over three decades, making Junior Team USA back-to-back, hitting top-10 junior world rankings in the 1000m and 1500m, and chasing spots at the Olympics—I probably would've laughed and said you had the wrong girl.

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But here we are. And honestly, it all started in the most unexpected, almost magical way.

I got into figure skating at 11. No one in my family had any winter sports background—we're just a regular Utah family who happened to love the mountains and the cold. But once I stepped on the ice, I was hooked. I progressed super fast: landed my double Axel in just nine months (which, yeah, apparently takes most people years), then jumped into triples and kept going. My coach told me one day. She said she'd taken me as far as she could at our local level, and to go further I'd need one of those elite programs out in Colorado, Boston, or California. At 15, though? Packing up and moving across the country wasn't realistic. School, family, the cost—it just wasn't in the cards. I could've stayed put or walked away, but neither felt right.

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Then came the pivot that changed everything. It wasn't some dramatic decision made in a moment of frustration. It felt more like... the doors just opened, one after another, in this perfect, natural flow.

It kicked off when my mom got a call from an international skating federation needing help with lodging and logistics for their athletes at the World Cup and Four Continents events in Salt Lake City back in 2022. Around the same time, my little brother Nickolas got curious about speed skating. He tried it out and joined the Learn to Speed skate program at the Utah Olympic Oval Speedskating Club. I went along to watch his first club race, just hanging out as the big sister.

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That's where I bumped into Derek Parra. At the time, I had no idea he was an Olympic gold medalist and the sports director at the Oval (facepalm—I know now, and I'm forever thankful for him). He saw me sitting there and straight-up asked, "Why aren't you on the ice?" I explained I was just cheering for my brother, that I was a figure skater and didn't know the first thing about speed skating. His response?

Classic Derek: "So what? Give it a try."

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Something clicked. With a bit of nerves and a lot of "why not," I said yes. I started messing around with short track (those turns felt so weird coming from figure skating!). By January 2023, mom signed me up for the learn-to-skate classes alongside Nickolas. A month after that, we were both full club members. My first proper long-track sessions started in August 2023 with private lessons I received from Shani Davis (the speedskating legend, yes that Shani Davis), and I raced officially for the first time in September.

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Things snowballed from there. December 2023: I qualified for AmCup races—that was my first real shot at the Team USA path. Then January 2024 rolled in with my first Junior World Qualification Championships at the Oval. I shocked myself by taking 2nd in the Junior 500m and 6th overall. I remember thinking, "Okay, this is kind of fun... and not bad for a newbie." That was the moment I knew: figure skating had been an amazing chapter, and it'll always be in my heart as the foundation that built my edge control, jumps, and feel for the ice.

But speed skating? This was where I belonged.

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I left figure skates behind without looking back (well, maybe a little nostalgically). And I must say, the last couple of years have been a whirlwind. In just two full seasons, I won the overall Viking Race title in the Netherlands—Europe's biggest youth championship—putting the USA on top in the B1 division with three golds and two silvers. I qualified for and competed at U.S. Olympic Trials in Milwaukee (nerves on another level, but so worth it). Back-to-back Junior Team USA selections, Junior Worlds appearances (Italy last year, Germany in 2026, and prepping for more), and those global junior top-10 spots in my main distances.

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Right now, I'm training hard with Team ATTAQ (big shoutout to Skate Tec in the Netherlands for the support), balancing full-time school (because life doesn't pause), and still repping as an ambassador for Utah's 2034 Winter Olympic Games—it's wild to think the same Oval where Derek convinced me to try this sport will host the Games again in 2034. Full circle moment.

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Early mornings still hit hard sometimes (who actually enjoys 5 a.m. alarms?), but they lead to the best stuff: fast laps, new PBs, travel to places I never dreamed of, teammates who feel like family, and that feeling when you cross the line and know you left it all out there.

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The Olympics are the big dream—it's right there on the horizon. But even on the days when it's tough, I'm just grateful. Grateful for a random conversation in the stands, for a brother's hobby that pulled me in, for every coach who's believed in me, and for this sport that found me when I needed it most.

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If you're reading this and thinking about trying something new—whether it's a sport, a hobby, whatever—just go for it. You never know where one "why not" can take you.

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Keep pushing,

Emma