Casey Dawson wins speedskating world cup, sets world record at Utah Olympic Oval

Utah hosts Speedskating World Cup where world record is set by Park City's Casey Dawson. Photo: TownLift // Michele Roepke

KEARNS, Utah — The three man team of Casey Dawson, Emeory Lehman, and Ethan Cepuran set the world record in the Team Pursuit with a time of 3:32.49 at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns on Sunday in the first speedskating world cup of this Olympic year. That was after Dawson, the Olympian from Park City, set the national record on Saturday at 6:04.40 in the mens 5000 meter, the same event in which he won a medal in Beijing 2022.

This World Cup was a Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic qualifier.

The event hosted 30 countries and 300 athletes in what was the countdown of 3000 days until the opening ceremony of the 2034 Utah Olympic Games.

“It’s great to get speeds getting back here in the US,” Olympic Champion Derek Parra told TownLift at the competition. “The Utah Olympic Oval has been known for the ‘Fastest Ice on Earth’ for decades now, so in an Olympic year to see the best of the world come back here, setting world, national, and personal best records is awesome. We’re ready for this year’s Olympics.” He knows of what he speaks as the gold and silver medalist in the 2002 Games and having helped run the team and the venue, the HQ for the national team, ever since.

Below is an example of some of the fast action. This video highlights a five-time Olympian female athlete from The Netherlands, illustrating just some of the start power making a stop in this state.

Jordan Stolz of the USA won the mens 1,000 meter in a finish time of 1:05.665 beating Poland and the Netherlands in second and third. He also won the men’s 1,500 races in 1:40.483 beating China then Germany. That was after also winning the mens 500 meter beating Poland and China and doing it in 33.880.

In the Team Pursuit for the men, they not only beat Norway in second place and China in third, but they also set a new world record with a finish time of 3:32.499.

Erin Jackson of the USA got the silver in the second-held womens 500 meter finishing in 36.572 which was 0.475 behind Olympic Champion Famke Bol of the Netherlands. Korea came in third.

The American womens Team Pursuit race ended with them in third place after Japan then Canada.

Mia Manganello of the USA won the womens Mass Start.

The video below shows M.C. Carl Roepke announcing this Opening Ceremony with U.S Speedskating President, ISU Vice President and local nine-year-old singer while first-up speedskater warms up in the foreground. The anthem performer is the daughter of Todd Porter who has been in charge operations at the venue for over two decades.

Among the sport and city VIPs in attendance at the three day event were Youth Sports Alliance Endowment donor, of which this sport is a part,  Jim Gaddis; global sport legend, Parkite, and five-gold medal winning US speedskater Eric Heiden; and Utahn and Olympic silver medalist Luge slider Chris Mazdzer, who’s a three-time Olympian. Mazdzer was fresh off his cast member appearance mere days earlier in L.A. at the Dancing With The Stars 20th Anniversary Show. He wasn’t the only luger in the audience as another YSA team, the Park City Junior Luge sliders, were there to cheer on the skaters in preparation for the Luge World Cup at the Utah Olympic Park, the sister facility of the Oval, which will be held Dec. 12 and 13.

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All Photos: TownLift // Michele Roepke