Erin Jackson secured her first Olympic gold medal in the women's 500-meter speed skating race, completing her lap in 37.04 seconds on Sunday for Team USA. The win marked a first for Team USA since 1994, NBC News reports.
A native of Ocala, Florida, Jackson became the first Black woman to win a medal for speed skating at the Winter Games.
Initially, she started as an inline skater and later pivoted to speed skating before the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, according to CBS News.
Jackson's journey to such a victorious win began with a rocky start when she slipped at the U.S. trials and came in third, leaving her in the precarious situation of losing her spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
However, her teammate Brittany Bowe, who came in first at the trials, sacrificed her spot to allow Jackson to skate in Beijing.
For her kind gesture, Jackson said Bowe was an "amazing friend, teammate and mentor."
"This is an act I'll never forget," Jackson wrote, according to CBS News. "You can bet I'll be the loudest voice in the oval cheering for her in the 1000 and 1500 next month."
After winning the race, Jackson said it was a huge relief.
"I cried immediately; it was just a big release of emotion. A lot of shock, a lot of relief, and a lot of happiness. I haven't fully processed everything quite yet, but it just feels amazing," Jackson told reporters, according to CNN.
"I had a little misstep on the backstretch, but I just tried to, I wouldn't say recover, because it wasn't anything big, but just tried to continue skating," she said.
