Three. Two. One.
The buzzer sounds, and Team USA's Mystique Ro launches into the start of a skeleton run. In seconds, she dives headfirst onto her sled and barrels down an icy track at more than 80 mph — her face inches from the ground.
Mystique Ro competes at the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation World Cup on 2024. (Photo by Getty Images)
It's a sharp contrast to her track and field days at Queens (North Carolina). Ro, competing in skeleton at the Milan Cortina Olympics, laughs about it now.
"I hate roller coasters. I'm terrified," she said. "But I've learned in this sport, speed is your friend."
The speed and the environment may have changed with her new sport, but the precision, body control and competitive spirit that are required remain the same.
Queens foundation: Speed, resilience and a multievent résumé
Under Jim Vahrenkamp — then the Queens director of cross country and track and field — and the rest of the Royals coaching staff, Ro became a reliable multievent student-athlete whose results improved each year. Her consistency was shown particularly at conference championships, where she never finished outside of the top 10 in any event in which she competed.
"Coach Vahrenkamp is the one that recruited me and gave me an opportunity," Ro said. "He helped keep me grounded during that time period because I was operating on my own and didn't really have much support, so it was one of those things where I needed a mentor to help me in that time period."
Ro competes in the long jump for Queens (North Carolina) at a meet. (Photo courtesy of Queens)
Her senior season, she was on the winning 4x100-meter and 4x400 relays at the 2016 South Atlantic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, while placing top seven in all seven events she entered. The 4x100 team advanced to the NCAA Division II outdoor championships, finishing 13th nationally.
Ro is listed in the record books at Queens with an outdoor school record in the 4x100 relay and top 10 all-time marks in the indoor 60 and 200 sprints and outdoor 100 and 400 hurdles.
She graduated with a communication degree and minors in theater performance and stage combat. In addition to honing her athletic talents, Ro left Charlotte's track program with skills she wouldn't fully understand the value of until later: resilience and the ability to pivot.
"Queens took me in when I needed support," she said. "They helped me develop my skills as a track and field student-athlete, and then from there, I was able to build the skills I would later need that I didn't know at the time for skeleton — which are bouncing back through different things and just being pivotal."
Olympic pivot: From Queens track to Team USA skeleton
After college, Ro felt she had reached a ceiling in track and field. If she wanted to keep her longtime Olympic dreams alive, she needed a new direction.
That's when she heard about a recruiting email from Olympic bobsled icon Elana Meyers Taylor, encouraging former track and field student-athletes to attend a sliding sports combine. Ro zeroed in on bobsledding as her way to the Olympics.
"I went to the rookie combine and did well enough to get invited to Lake Placid, and then from there I got to participate in the driving school," Ro said.
While training for bobsled, Ro saw success but soon realized that another pivot would be needed to make her Olympic aspirations come true.
"I wanted to do bobsled, but I didn't have the size," Ro said. "It's a gravity sport, so it's physics. You've got to be able to hit a sled, but it's very heavy, and be able to run with it."
Ro, who stands at 5 feet, 4 inches, described herself as lean from track. She was transitioned to skeleton, an event she had heard of but never tried.
"Things happen and things come up," Ro said. "Knowing that this one thing might not work at this moment, you can reroute toward something else. You've got to be open to other opportunities, just because something is presenting as a no doesn't mean that's final."
This pivot would be the beginning of something extraordinary — an unlikely Olympic path built on everything she learned long before she ever touched the ice.
Learning the ice: From rookie screams to World Cup podiums
Ro's introduction to skeleton came in 2016 at the Team USA training combine, where she finished in the top three among athletes testing for one of the most demanding and fastest winter sports in the world. By 2017, she was competing in the North American Cup circuit.
"I said to myself, 'Don't say no yet. Just try,'" Ro said. "I was screaming on the way down, going 40 miles an hour, but I tried it. My first year or two, I got on that sled, and I was hitting everything under the sun, ping-ponging down the track, and it was painful. And I was just like, 'Hopefully it gets better. We'll see.'"
That's when she received career-changing advice from Meyers Taylor, who simply told Ro, "Do it your way." And it clicked.
From there, her progress accelerated. She finished fourth on the NAC tour in 2018, earned her first podium in 2019 and got the opportunity to race on the Europe Cup Circuit.
Ro's results continued to climb through 2022, when she finished first at the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation Push World Championships. This moment was a clear connector for Ro, that the explosiveness that once powered her collegiate track and field career had found a new home.
She made her IBSF World Cup debut in 2023 and soon earned her first World Cup podium, with a second-place finish. She maintained steady success through 2024, claiming her first World Cup victory and a gold medal at the Pan American Championships.
Ro celebrates a successful skeleton run at the IBSF World Cup. (Photo by Getty Images)
In 2025, Ro competed in her first world championship. She finished second in women's skeleton and added gold in the mixed team event alongside teammate Austin Florian, the culmination of nearly a decade of perseverance and adaptation.
What's next in Milan Cortina: Events Ro will race
For Ro, there was always only one end goal for her athletics career.
"Making it to the Olympics was the dream growing up, by any means necessary," she said.
Now that moment has arrived for Ro, who has earned her place on the Team USA roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics. She'll compete in the women's skeleton event and the mixed team skeleton relay, which is making its Olympic debut.
When she launches headfirst down the Olympic track Friday, she'll race to the finish line of that lifelong dream — at 80 mph.
How to watch
Follow Team USA's journey throughout the 2026 Winter Olympics through NBCUniversal's coverage. Every event will also be livestreamed and available on demand on Peacock. Daily broadcast schedules are available at nbcolympics.com/schedule.
