Correction: An earlier version of this article stated this was the first time a Macalester alum has competed in the Winter Olympics. In 1968, Neil Blatchford ’70 and Bill Cox ’70 were on the Winter Olympic speed skating team, with Blatchford also competing in 1972.
On Wednesday, Feb. 11, Conor McDermott-Mostowy ’24 brought Macalester to the winter Olympics for the first time in decades. After winning the 1000m trial event, the speedskater placed ninth in the Olympic finals 1000m men’s long track with a time of 1:08.48.
His first lap was timed at 16.71 seconds, a slower time for him, but he picked up the pace, closing in on 38 miles per hour in his later laps.
McDermott-Mostowy was paired against Ning Zhongyan of China, whose time of 1:07.34 placed him third. Speedskating events are two-laned events, but the skaters aren’t competing directly against each other. Their times are taken and compared to all the skaters in the event, and pairings are determined randomly. McDermott-Mostowy had the interior lane in the matchup, the less advantageous position. Lane positions are determined randomly.
His teammate, Jordan Stolz, earned gold and his time of 1:06.28 broke the Olympic record by over a second, with the largest margin of victory since 1984. The teammates led the American delegation with the two fastest times of the team.
Dozens of Macalester community members gathered to watch the event in the Leonard Center’s Hall of Fame Room. The watch party was a joint event hosted by the Athletics Department and Pride Athletes At Mac.
The ninth place finish wasn’t his best race, but McDermott-Mostowy still made history this week. McDermott-Mostowy is the only openly gay male athlete on Team USA. He was also the first out gay man to compete in Olympic speed skating, breaking a century-long barrier — the sport has been part of the Winter Olympics since its inception in 1924. So though there were no records broken on the track, his race was still a historic achievement.
There was also immense excitement to see a Macalester athlete perform at such a high level, as well as win the 1000m trial event.
Athletics Operations Assistant Katja McKiernan ’18 described watching McDermott-Mostowy compete: “It felt pretty special. We don’t get a lot of Olympians, so it’s pretty wild, even though he didn’t [win]. He finished ninth. [That’s] top 10 in the world. And he was here. That’s pretty cool.”
Athletics Director Donnie Brooks had a similar reaction: “It’s an incredible sense of pride for our campus community when you have someone competing on the world stage … I feel a lot of pride to see a Macalester student achieve something so great.” When asked if Macalester would be adding speedskating to its athletic repertoire, Brooks couldn’t give a guarantee. Still, he added, “never say never.”
