MILAN — Back in January, back in Milwaukee, all looked good for the team pursuit in American speed skating.
But now it’s February. Now it’s Milan. Now it’s the 2026 Olympics. And America’s men’s and women’s team pursuit squads will be heading home — and back to the drawing board — after finishes that didn’t live up to their own lofty expectations.
The men’s squad of Casey Dawson, Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran settled for the silver medal after fading toward the end of the final and suffering a stunning loss to Italy. In the women’s team pursuit, Brittany Bowe, Mia Manganello and Greta Myers finished a disappointing fourth, this after losing to eventual gold medalist Canada in the semifinal and then getting upended by Japan in the fight for the bronze.
What to make of all this? It depended on who was doing the talking. Speaking for the women, Manganello, standing with Bowe and Myers in the mixed zone, was asked about losing by 3.5 seconds to Japan. “We pulled together, and I think we were body and mind strong going into it. Unfortunately, Japan seemed to be as well. They had a great race also. But I think we put together a solid race as well and we really couldn’t have asked for more.”
When there was a pause in the questioning, Bowe turned and walked away. Manganello and Myers followed. Just as Bowe was exiting the mixed zone, she was asked if she had made a decision on whether to attend the U.S.-Canada women’s hockey final Thursday night to support her partner, Team USA captain Hilary Knight. That would be a tough assignment for Bowe, considering she’ll be skating in the 1,500m the next day. “Haven’t decided yet,” Bowe said, and out of the mixed zone she went.
Mark down Bowe, Manganello and Myers as decidedly not happy with fourth place in women’s team pursuit.
Greta Myers, Mia Manganello and Brittany Bowe of the United States finished fourth in their team pursuit competition. (Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Getty Images)
And the men? We’ll get to the silver medal, and its status as a silver lining to what happened Tuesday afternoon at Milano Speed Skating Stadium, in a moment. But first, it was important for somebody to stand up and affirm that their loss to Italy was a major disappointment, considering the Americans were reigning world champions and world record holders in this competition.
Dawson took on that assignment.
“There’s always going to be bitterness,” Dawson said. “We came out here to win. The last four years was a dream to get gold . . . but today, we put in the effort we could, we tried our best, we put it out there on the ice.”
Perhaps it was as easy as the Italian trio of Davide Ghiotto, Andrea Giovannini and Michele Malfatti enjoying home ice advantage, what with exuberant, flag-waving fans cheering their every move. But it’s never that easy. The Americans seemingly had an advantage of their own, having developed the strategy in which one skater remains in the lead throughout the race, with his two teammates pushing from behind. It’s now copied by other countries, but this U.S. team came into Milan as clear favorites.
But then Dawson, Cepuran and Lehman faded, finishing in 3:43.71, which was a whopping 4.51 seconds behind Italy’s winning time of 3:39.20.
There had been hints that Italy could upset the Americans, given its first-place time 3:38.40 in the quarterfinals, ahead of the United States (3:39.37) and China (3:41.66).
“We knew they were going to be tough,” Cepuran said. “The Games are here, in Italy. They’re fighting for their home crowd.”
Lehman took a big-picture look, observing, “If there’s anything we’ve learned from the Olympics, between short track or figure skating or whatever it is . . . you can’t just be the best going in, you have to be the best on the day you compete. Italy was the best today, and in every round. They had the fastest time, they were the best team. You could say we lost gold, but I just think they were better prepared for the Olympics.”
Asked what “preparations” the U.S. men’s team pursuit squad could have done at the trials in Milwaukee before advancing to Milan, Lehman said, “I don’t even know if I could put my finger on it. I think we could go back and analyze what they did or what we didn’t do or what we could have done, but at the end of the day we we did it, we skated it, and we did the best that we could.”
As for the silver lining, the silver medal represents the best finish for the United States in team pursuit since its silver medal finish behind Canada in 2010.
For Cepuran, Dawson and Lehman, who took bronze at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, this will be the last time they compete together in team pursuit. It’s also Lehman’s last Olympics.
“We’ve been on this journey together for seven years,” Cepuran said. “You want to go and out and send Emery off with a bang. There’s nothing like being able to celebrate across the line.”
Cepuran, Dawson and Lehman also have the distinction of having played a role in the development of the team pursuit tush push. As explained by Paul Golomski, general manager of the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee, “ . . . the team push concept is the second and third athletes never change with the lead and they just push the lead person. The person in the lead is taking all the drag from them, it’s the toughest spot to be in. Second and third draft off them so it’s a little easier for them. But they keep the lead person going hard, by pushing him to stay in front of them.”
So there’s that. While the Americans didn’t win gold in men’s team pursuit, they’ve changed the sport.
“We were the guinea pigs for part of that process,” Lehman said. “It’ll be cool in 50 years when they’re breaking 3:30, maybe 3:20 in the team pursuit and they’re still doing the same technique.”
Brittany Ghiroli in Milan contributed reporting.