Noelle Pikus-Pace
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | December 8, 1982 Provo, Utah, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home town | Eagle Mountain, Utah, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 160 lb (73 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |  United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Skeleton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Noelle Pikus-Pace (born December 8, 1982) is an American retired
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Career
Pikus-Pace won the women's
After winning the silver medal in the women's skeleton event at the
Pikus-Pace, who at the time was six weeks pregnant, announced on October 3, 2007 that she would take the 2007–08 Skeleton World Cup off to give birth to her baby.
She finished fifth in the
It was announced on January 17, 2010 that Pikus-Pace had qualified for the 2010 Winter Olympics. She competed in the 2010 Games, finishing in fourth place, with a sled designed by her husband after two of her other sleds had been damaged. The first sled had been damaged by the runaway bobsled in Calgary and her second sled was damaged during transport to the FIBT World Championships 2009 in Lake Placid, New York.[1] Pikus-Pace's husband, a project manager of a metal fabrication company in South Salt Lake, Utah, designed a skeleton sled in accordance to FIBT regulations to allow her to race.[1]
Retirement and return to skeleton
Pikus-Pace retired after the conclusion of the 2010 Winter Olympics. She announced her intention to come out of retirement in the summer of 2012 with the intent of qualifying for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
On January 11, 2013, Pikus-Pace placed first in her event at the Königssee, Germany track.[2] This win was her first on the World Cup level since 2004.
She would build upon this breakthrough by helping Team USA-1 win gold in the team event at the FIBT World Championships 2013 in St. Moritz, Switzerland.[3] Her 1:08:92 time vaulted the team into the lead and was 0.84 seconds quicker than the other competitors who sleighed her leg of the event.[3] Pikus-Pace would then go on to win silver in the women's event.[4]
She closed the 2012/13 FIBT World Cup season with a win in Sochi. On January 18, 2014, Pikus-Pace was named to the 2014 Olympic team.[5] On February 14, 2014, Pikus-Pace won her first Olympic medal, a silver, coming full circle and completing her comeback before retiring for good.[6]
Personal life
Pikus-Pace is the youngest of the eight children in her family. She married her husband, Janson Pace, in 2002. The couple welcomed their first child, daughter Lacee Lynne Pace, on January 19, 2008. They also have a son named Traycen. In an interview on NBC on February 14, 2014 after winning the silver medal in the Olympics in Sochi, she revealed that she had a miscarriage at 18 weeks while carrying her third child. Pikus-Pace said the pain of this loss and her difficulties coping with it caused her husband to encourage her to get back into the sport and compete in skeleton again. In July 2015 she gave birth to twins Payton and Makai.
She is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[7] Throughout the Olympics in Sochi, she wore a medallion she earned from the young woman program of the church.[8]
References
- ^ a b Zillgitt, Jeff (February 11, 2010). "Pikus-Pace, like her sled, is a rebuilding project". USA Today. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
- ^ "Noelle Pikus-Pace wins skeleton". ESPN. Associated Press. January 11, 2013. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
- ^ Team USA. Archived from the originalon January 29, 2013. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
- ^ Lewis, Michael C. (February 1, 2013). "Utah's Noelle Pikus-Pace claims silver at world skeleton championships". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
- ^ U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation (January 18, 2014). "2014 U.S. Olympic Skeleton Team Announced". TeamUSA.org. Archived from the original on January 20, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
- ^ NBC Sports (February 14, 2014). "Noelle Pikus-Pace grabs skeleton silver; Great Britain's Yarnold wins". nbcsports.com. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
- ^ Hi I'm Noelle Pikus Pace Olympian, Gold Medal, Noelle Pikus Pace, Olympics, Skeleton, Winter sports, Mormon.
- ^ Petersen, Sarah (February 18, 2014), Noelle Pikus-Pace wears LDS Young Women necklace throughout Olympics, retrieved February 19, 2014
External links
- Official website
- Noelle Pikus-Pace at the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation
- Noelle Pikus-Pace at Team USA (archive June 5, 2023)
- Noelle Pikus-Pace at Olympics.com
- Noelle Pikus-Pace at Olympedia
- Huber Edges Szymkowiak in Skeleton WC Opener at the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing. November 28, 2008.
- List of women's skeleton World Cup champions since 1997 (sports123.com) at the Wayback Machine (archived November 5, 2011)
- Mixed bobsleigh-skeleton world championship medalists since 2007 (sports123.com) at the Wayback Machine (archived September 29, 2007)
- NBCOlympics.com on the bobsleigh and skeleton slots for the US Team for the 2010 Winter Olympics at the Wayback Machine (archived January 23, 2010)
- Skeletonsport.com profile at the Wayback Machine (archived May 18, 2005)
- US Olympic Committee story on Pikus-Pace's return from her injury in late 2005 at the Wayback Machine (archived December 6, 2007)
- Women's skeleton world championship medalists since 2000 (sports123.com) at the Wayback Machine (archived March 4, 2008)
