VIDEO SHOWS: INTERVIEW WITH U.S. SKELETON RACER MYSTIQUE RO / STILL PHOTOS OF RO SHOWS: LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE – MARCH 6, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all) 1. STILL PICTURE OF MYSTIQUE RO COMPETING AT IBSF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (MUTE) NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 28, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all) 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MYSTIQUE RO, U.S. SKELETON RACER, SAYING: "Essentially, that first medal was, we're on the right path. So, we're doing the right things, and, so, that, kind of, just brought the Americans back on the map, and, like, we can medal, we can podium." LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE – MARCH 7, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all) 3. STILL PICTURE OF RO CELEBRATING AFTER COMPETING AT IBSF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (MUTE) NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 28, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all) 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MYSTIQUE RO, U.S. SKELETON RACER, SAYING: "I wouldn't call it pressure. I think, I can think of it as a challenge and something that we're going to do the best we can, and with the right preparation, we can do it." LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE – MARCH 7, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all) 5. STILL PICTURE OF RO WRAPPED IN U.S. FLAG AT IBSF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (MUTE) NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 28, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all) 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MYSTIQUE RO, U.S. SKELETON RACER, SAYING: "So, this summer we've been (doing) a lot more strengthening stuff and we've definitely got into a position where I can walk fine, I can do my normal stuff. So, we're just going to keep an eye on it and make sure we don't exaggerate it or make it worse." LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE – MARCH 7, 2025) (Reuters – Access all) 7. STILL PICTURE OF MYSTIQUE RO CELEBRATING AT MEDAL PODIUM WITH OTHER WINNERS AT IBSF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (MUTE) STORY: Mystique Ro hopes to take her meteoric rise to the top of the podium at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in February, as she bids to end a nearly quarter-century American gold medal drought in the skeleton. The track and field athlete-turned-slider only made her World Cup debut in 2023, but has emerged in a short time as a contender to watch. Her maiden World Cup win in 2024, the first for the U.S. in eight years, "brought the Americans back on the map," she told Reuters in New York on Tuesday (October 28) at the Team USA Media Summit. Ro followed that up with World Championship silver a year later, the Americans' first world medal in 12 years. She also took gold in the mixed event with teammate Austin Florian and believes the U.S. have enough talent in their ranks to medal in skeleton at the 2026 Games. It is a position the Olympic hopeful struggled to see herself in a year ago, when she suffered a hyperextension in her knee that left her unable to walk properly and fearing her career would be derailed. Instead, she modified her routine, focusing on building her strength for the famously terrifying sport where competitors hurl their bodies down an icy track at speeds of over 80 miles per hour. (Production: Hussein Waaile, Amy Tennery, Brendan McDermid, Nathan Frandino)
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