US speed skater Emery Lehman has won silver in the team pursuit event at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, becoming the third Jewish medallist of the Games.
His teammates were Casey Dawson and Ethan Cepuran – the trio won bronze in the same event during the 2022 Games in Beijing.
Having beaten China by 7.93 seconds in the semi-finals, the US team lost to Italy by 4.51 seconds in the gold medal event.
After the race, Lehman disclosed his plans to retire following these Games, his fourth: “Eight years ago, none of us had skated a team pursuit together,” he said.
“Now, to be finishing off with two Olympic medals, I’m pretty proud of it”.
Lehman, 29, was born in Chicago to Jewish parents and visited Israel on a Birthright trip in 2018. Posting on Instagram after visiting Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem on the trip, he said: “Unreal experience seeing those who fought for Israel throughout the years.”
He added: “Seeing all sorts of graves from such a diverse group of people fighting to keep the people in Israel safe was very touching.”
Lehman took up speed skating at the age of nine to aid his ice hockey, but soon realised his aptitude for the sport.
In the men’s team pursuit event, teams skate eight laps of a 400m track. They begin on opposite sides of the track, effectively pursuing the other team.
The athletes, for the most part, skate one behind the other, acting as a unit to reduce the team’s air resistance. The winning team is the first one to completes eight laps.
The US trio started off strongly, with fractions of a second separating them from Italy for the first few laps, before the Italian team pulled away, completing the event with a time of 3:39.20.
Lehman and his teammates entered the Games as the world number one, having won the last five season-long World Cup titles. They had also broken the world record in the event twice since 2024.
“You can’t just be the best going in,” Lehman said of the competition they faced from the Italian team.
“You have to be the best on the day you compete and Italy was the best today. In every round they had the fastest time. So you could say we lost gold, but I just think they were more prepared at the Olympics”.
Lehman has also competed in individual disciplines at the Olympics, placing but never medalling in the 1,500m, 5,000m, and 10,000m events.
He joins curler Korey Dropkin and snowboarder Scotty James as Jewish athletes to have taken home medals – all silver – from the Games so far.
They are among a small cohort of Jewish and Israeli athletes competing in Milano Cortina.
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