Speed Skater Kristen Santos-Griswold Is Chasing Olympic Gold Her Way

MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 16: Kristen Santos-Griswold of United States poses with her Women’s ISU Crystal Globe Champion 2024-25 Trophy on Day Three of the ISU Short Track World Tour #6 Milan at Forum Assago on February 16, 2025 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos – International Skating Union/International Skating Union via Getty Images)

International Skating Union via Getty Images

On most Olympic days, the story begins on the ice. And for Kristen Santos-Griswold they often end at the front door of her home.

No matter how the day has gone—whether her training felt sharp or lousy; Whether her body cooperated or reminded her of last season’s injuries—two dogs are waiting: Bear, a 13-and-a-half-year-old husky and Coda, his younger companion. They don’t care about lap times or medal counts. They care that she’s home.

“That reset is everything,” Santos-Griswold says. “In sport, it’s easy to get wrapped up in every single detail. But when I walk in and they’re just so happy to see me, it puts everything back into perspective.”

Perspective is a word Santos-Griswold has learned to value—sometimes the hard way. A year ago, she was at the height of her sport, winning the Crystal Globe as the world’s top all-around female short track speed skater and collecting five medals at the World Championships. Then came injuries: a shattered clavicle, back issues, and the kind of physical setbacks that don’t just slow momentum—they test identity.

Now, with the Milano-Cortina Olympic Games approaching, Santos-Griswold is doing something that doesn’t come naturally to elite competitors. She’s waiting.

Learning To Peak Later

“This year has definitely been a slower build for me,” she admits. “When we got back on the ice, it was straight into race season. I didn’t really get that time to feel the ice the way I normally do.”

For an athlete known for her competitive fire, that forced patience was mentally taxing. “I’ve always been someone who wants to feel 100 percent every day,” she says. “And this year, I had to accept that I wouldn’t—and that was actually okay.”

Rather than rushing recovery or forcing results early in the season, Santos-Griswold made a deliberate decision to build slowly toward February 2026, when Olympic medals—not early-season podiums—will matter most.

“I had to keep my mindset on February,” she says. “Not trying to force things too quickly. That was really challenging mentally, but I think we handled it the right way.”

Today, she says, she feels more like herself on the ice—stronger, more confident, and better aligned with Olympic timing. For an athlete who will contest five events in Milan—the 500, 1000, 1500, women’s 3000-meter relay, and the mixed team relay—that rhythm matters as much as raw speed.

“She’s going for it all,” one might say.

“Why not?” Santos-Griswold laughs.

Many Things Fuel Performance

Part of that balance comes from understanding that elite performance isn’t just about what happens on the ice. It’s also about what happens away from it, like when Bear and Kota are there to meet her at the end of a long day.

“Both of my dogs are really pivotal in my career,” she says. “They help me reset, mentally and emotionally.”

Bear, despite his age, hasn’t slowed down—a fact Santos-Griswold attributes in part to improved nutrition and variety in the food provided by one of her Olympic sponsors. “He’s always been a picky eater,” she says. “Food is fun,” she says. “And I like that it can be fun for them, too.”

A Small Sport, A Small World

Short track speed skating is a niche sport and even on a global stage it is a close-knit community. Santos-Griswold learned that early, long before she became one of its stars.

As a young 9-year old girl, she would watch Wilma Boomstra on the Disney Channel—a European champion speed skater from the Netherlands. That moment was when she was first inspired to pursue speed skating. Fast forward to 2019 and she would find herself training under Boomstra’s guidance as a US team coach going into the Beijing 2022 Olympics, a full-circle moment that still makes her shake her head.

“It’s crazy how close-knit this sport is,” she says. “You cross paths with people you never would have imagined, and you form these really special bonds.”

That closeness can be both comforting and unforgiving. One slip, one crash, one foul can end years of preparation. Santos-Griswold knows this firsthand, having seen Olympic races decided by fractions of seconds and controversial calls. In Beijing in 2022 skating in the 1000 meters, she was in medal position, poised to wipe out the frustration that has haunted American women in Olympic short track speed skating for 12 years. Instead, Santos wiped out. Or rather, she was taken out by 10-time Olympic medalist Arrianna Fontana of Italy, who slid into the Team USA skater with under a lap to go in the 1000m and sent both of them into the boards.

“It’s part of the sport,” said Santos at the time, who was trying to win the first Olympic medal by a U.S. woman in short track since 2010 All she’s asking now is the chance to race clean.

“I just want to do my best,” she says. “And not have it come down to something out of my control.”

Building A Life Beyond The Ice

Perhaps the most distinctive part of Santos-Griswold’s journey has little to do with medals at all.

Unlike many elite athletes who leave school early to train full-time, she chose to slow things down. She attended the University of Utah. She lived as a college student. She built relationships. She met her husband, Travis. And today, she’s in graduate school studying physical therapy.

“I didn’t want to lose my future,” she says simply. “I’ve seen athletes leave their sport and think, ‘Now what?’ I didn’t want that.”

That decision has given her something rare in elite sport: Freedom with no regrets.

“When I show up to training now, I know I’m there because I want to be,” she says. “I don’t feel like I missed out on life. I don’t feel like I’m giving everything else up.”

There are no regrets—only clarity.

“I know what I want,” she says.

Timing It Right

As Milano-Cortina approaches, Santos-Griswold isn’t chasing perfection. She’s chasing alignment—between body and mind, ambition and patience, career and life.

She knows the spotlight is coming. She also knows what will be waiting for her when she gets home.

“There’s always dog hair on my clothes,” she laughs. “No matter what I do, it’s there.”

It’s a reminder she wears proudly.

Because when the Olympic lights dim and the noise fades, success, for Kristen Santos-Griswold, is measured not just in medals—but in doing the Olympic journey her way.

(I interviewed Kristen Santos-Griswold, America’s most decorated, active short-track speed skater, on January 12, 2026. Her quotes are mostly taken from that interview.)