Maame Biney will become the second African-born athlete to compete for the U.S. at the Winter Olympics and the first black woman on a speed skating team.
J.R. Celski, a three-time medalist, is going to a third Winter Games.
Biney, Celski and Aaron Tran qualified in short track at the Olympic Trials in Kearns, Utah, after the 500m on Saturday.
The team is now at five skaters -- John-Henry Krueger and Lana Gehring qualified on the first night Friday.
Three more skaters will qualify Sunday after 1000m races -- two men and one woman.
One of Katherine Reutter-Adamek and Jessica Kooreman, the top U.S. women at the last two Olympics, is guaranteed to miss the PyeongChang team.
Neither could keep up with the 17-year-old Biney, who moved to the D.C. area from Ghana with her father at age 5, on Saturday. More on Biney’s personal story here.
Biney swept the 500m finals, taking leads from the start and holding off more experienced women. She actually fell -- while celebrating after crossing the finish line in the last race.
Afterward, NBC Sports’ Andrea Joyce told Biney that eight-time Olympic medalist Apolo Ohno believes Biney doesn’t know how good she is.
“People have been telling me that forever, and I think right now I’m kind of seeing it, but I feel like I have a long ways to go, but thanks Apolo,” said Biney, who won a junior world championships bronze medal last season.
Celski did not win the men’s 500m, where he is the world-record holder. Krueger did, with Tran in second.
But the fact that Krueger finished in the top two in Friday’s 1500m and the 500m means that Celski gets on the team via his second-place finish in the 1500m.
Celski won two bronze medals at the 2010 Olympics and another relay silver in Sochi.
He took a full season off after Sochi -- undergoing hip surgery -- and overcame further knee and back injuries the last two years to return to the World Cup podium this season.
Celski is the only American to earn an individual World Cup medal this season (a bronze) in 24 total races.
Celski won’t be able to race the 500m in PyeongChang if Thomas Hong makes the Olympic team on Sunday.
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U.S. Olympic Short Track Trials
Day | Time (ET) | Events | Network |
Friday | 6:45-8 p.m. | 1500m rounds | STREAM LINK |
8:30-10 p.m. | 1500m finals | NBCSN | STREAM LINK | |
Saturday | 12-1:45 p.m. | 500m rounds | STREAM LINK |
2:30-4 p.m. | 500m finals | NBC | STREAM LINK | |
Sunday | 10:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. | 1000m rounds | STREAM LINK |
1-3 p.m. | 1000m finals | NBC | STREAM LINK |