Erin Jackson started out as the little kid with the plastic wheels strapped to the bottom of her shoes, rattling up and down the driveway. Then she was an artistic inline skater, emulating figure skaters at the roller rink. Then a world-class speedskater on pavement. A novice speedskater on ice. A world-class speedskater on ice.
And now, finally, the prohibitive favorite to win an Olympic gold medal.
Just five years after switching from inline skating to ice, the 29-year-old Jackson enters the 2022 Beijing Olympics as the No. 1-ranked skater in the world at 500 meters. She is one of the few Black competitors in an overwhelmingly white sport, an ice-skating star from a Florida town without a year-round rink, and a professional athlete who, for most of her life, has prioritized academics over practice.