Kristen Santos still motivated after ‘heartbreaking’ crash in Olympic 1000m

Kristen Santos found herself exactly where she wanted to be Friday in Beijing, contending for Olympic gold in the women’s short track speed skating 1000m final.

After just missing out on making Team USA in 2018, hampered by a gruesome hand injury but bolstered by her own resilience, Santos changed her goal from making the U.S. Olympic Team to winning an Olympic medal.

Santos was thisclose at the 2022 Winter Olympics in one of her marquee events when a late crash ended her bid for a podium. Skating in third with two laps remaining, she went down while trying to move inside on 10-time medalist Arianna Fontana of Italy. Fontana was penalized for a lane change causing contact.

The 27-year-old Santos, from Fairfield, Conn., was both gracious and pragmatic in her post-race interviews, noting, “That’s part of the sport.”

“I’ve been penalized more times than I can count,” Santos said afterward via New York Times reporter Kevin Draper. “I can’t be mad at anyone for that. We’re all going out there and trying our hardest, no one is trying to get disqualified, no one’s trying to mess anyone else up, we’re just trying to do the best we possibly can.”

And she followed up with nothing but respect for Fontana, adding, “She is the nicest person in the entire world. She’s someone that I look up to every single day and she impresses me, so no bad blood there.”

But Santos is still motivated, posting on Instagram a photo of herself wearing her U.S. Olympic short track competition uniform and an ear-to-ear smile.

“Not gunna lie, being in medal position going into the last lap and crashing is absolutely heartbreaking, especially when you know you had more to give,” she wrote. “And while [fourth] place hurts, I’m trying to channel this girl