With ‘Little Buddy’ Mylo By Her Side, Corinne Stoddard Is Making Steady Progress Toward 2026

Corinne Stoddard’s life is fairly simple these days.

After making her Winter Olympic debut in Beijing last year, Stoddard is training twice a day, six days a week, in the hopes of getting even faster as a speedskater. Sunday is her only day off during the week.

The only other major commitment in her life is Mylo, her 7-year-old mini goldendoodle. Stoddard, now 22, has had her dog since her freshman year in high school, and she brought him with her when she made the choice to move to Salt Lake City to train with the U.S. Short Track National Team.

Stoddard comes home in between her two daily workouts to walk Mylo. She said she likes having her “little buddy” around to keep her company and give her something to focus on aside from her training.

“Having my dog, Mylo, here with me has given me the opportunity to make friends in Utah that have nothing to do with skating,” Stoddard said. “I have gotten to know a big group of friends from the dog park that I never would have met if it weren’t for Mylo.”

Stoddard, a native of Tacoma, Washington, is keeping things simple with the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 less than three years away. Her goal is to reach the medal podium in Italy, which she believes is very possible if she keeps improving as a speedskater.

She’s already shown progress. Coming off her Olympic debut in Beijing, Stoddard won her first World Cup individual medal last December and recorded her best individual finish at the World Championships when she took fifth in the 500m.

Stoddard said she wants to spend the next few years working on her racing tactics, gaining more racing experience and skating at a high speed for a long period of time.

This season’s World Cup schedule begins in late October in Montreal.

“So obviously, I have smaller goals every year that lead up to the big goal, which is at the Olympics,” Stoddard said. “Basically, my goals for the season are to be in ‘A’ finals all the time and also medal a couple of times throughout the World Cup season. And then the end-of-the-year goal would be to be in all ‘A’ finals at World Championships.”

Stoddard got off to a rough start at the Beijing Winter Olympics last February, breaking her nose when she crashed during her 500-meter heat. She returned to the ice, though, and finished seventh in the 1000m and eighth in both the Women’s and Mixed Team relays.

Despite the injury, she left Beijing feeling encouraged.

“I was like, ‘In four years, if I keep training and improving the way I have been, then I could probably be on the podium in four years,’” Stoddard said. “That was the realization that I had at the Games. … In 2018 I thought, ‘Oh, I could go to the Olympics.’ And then in 2022 I thought, ‘Oh, I could medal at the Olympics.’”

Stoddard has quickly risen through the ranks in speedskating, but she admitted her goal initially wasn’t to become an Olympian. In fact, she didn’t even want to start ice skating as a kid.

Stoddard was introduced to roller skating in kindergarten, and she enjoyed it so much she started frequenting a local skating rink.

After watching Stoddard zip around on roller skates, the owner of the skating rink asked her if she’d be interested in trying inline speedskating. She said yes and immediately loved it when she gave it a shot in the first grade.

“I was pretty competitive as a young kid, and also I really liked to race and go fast,” Stoddard said. “Even just at school, I would do running races on the playground with the boys and stuff like that.”

When Stoddard was around 11 years old, her mother had her try ice skating because she knew roller skating wasn’t an Olympic sport. Stoddard, however, was reluctant at first.

“I didn’t really want to ice skate. I really loved inline skating, and ice skating, it’s cold. And it was just something new, and I already knew I really liked inline skating,” Stoddard said. “So inline skating has always been my passion. It still is my No. 1 passion. It’s just not in the Olympics.”

Stoddard said she remembers at age 7 watching swimming Michael Phelps win eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and thinking it looked “cool.” A few years later, her mother felt Stoddard had the potential to become an Olympian as well.

Stoddard said it dawned on her when she was 16 and watching the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics that she had the talent to someday compete on the world’s largest stage. To make it happen, she knew she needed to head out to Utah to train.

She moved to Utah in the fall of 2018 with Mylo, and it’s still just the two of them taking on life together.

“So basically, my life consists of training and taking care of my dog,” Stoddard said. “And that’s what I do every day.”

Alex Abrams has written about Olympic and Paralympic sports for more than 15 years, including as a reporter for major newspapers in Florida, Arkansas and Oklahoma. He is a freelance contributor to US Speedskating on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.