ST. LOUIS — Speeding along the ice whips up speedskater Anna Quinn.
“When you’re whipping around a corner and you’re like holy cow, I’m moving fast," she exclaimed.
Quinn said she has loved the sport for about 20 years. During those decades, she’s improved her skills and made sacrifices, including training many summers, which meant not hanging out with her friends. She’s spent a lot of time embracing the scary parts of speedskating, like the pain, which has helped build her endurance. Her longest distance is the 1500 which is a sprint but yet a longer race.
“It hurts more than anything in the world,” Quinn admitted.
But when winning is the goal, the pain just goes along with the ride.
“Suffer as much as you can to get to that finish line," she said.
It’s a mindset she’s picked up from her brother, Olympian Ian Quinn. He told her you gotta learn to love that you suffer.
That mentality definitely works for him. Ian Quinn made the 2022 U.S. Olympic team. Anna Quinn also skated at the Olympic trials but didn’t make the team. But she isn’t defeated. She said she’s very happy for her brother and has no regrets.
She said the next four years start now and she’s more motivated. Quinn is determined to follow in her brother's skates to one day take the ice for Team USA.
“I’m going to keep my head down and keep pushing,” she said. “Ever since I was little, I wanted to be just like my big brother. And I’m hoping that will happen to me as well.”
