When It Comes To School Or Skating, Eunice Lee Chooses Both

To Eunice Lee, the implication is kind of tired.

Why should she have to choose one or the other — speedskating or academics?

 The issue isn’t all that black and white for the 20-year-old.

 “I’m trying to accomplish everything I’ve set my mind to so far,” Lee said.

And that’s a lot. She’s made her name in short track speedskating as a member of the U.S. National Team since 2022, including on the Olympic squad that traveled to Beijing for the 2022 Winter Games.

 Even though she’s bouncing back from a left ankle injury sustained last September that wiped out her competitive season, she’s got her eyes on Milano Cortina 2026, the Winter Games that start next February.

 With Lee, though, that’s never it. She’s currently finishing up her freshman year at Duke University, studying chemistry and biology on the pre-med track.

 Whew.

 “It’s a lot,” Lee admits. “I’ve always had a high standard for myself academically. I’m focusing on my academics and test performance and, on top of that, getting my training programs in and keeping myself healthy.”

 The ankle injury was “a chronic injury of sorts,” she said, the culmination of minor injuries that went away with time and rest. But it got weaker and weaker, and at the World Cup trials in September she fell, “and it popped.”

 "It was pretty swollen and angry after a while,” she recalled. “I assumed rest and ice (would help), but it didn’t get better.”

 Walking to and from class on Duke’s expansive campus became a real chore. So she took it slow, but unfortunately, the issue was just beginning.

 The game plan was medicine, a brace and waiting. She went to Washington, D.C. for fall break and met with a doctor there, who recommended the not skate or jump for a month. That’s when she started physical therapy.

 Physical therapy, combined with weight work three times a week and cardio on a stationary bike three times a week as well, has worked.

 But it wasn’t just the physical pain that hurt.

 "Mentally it was a lot to see everyone else in the competitions,” Lee said. “I struggled with it more first semester, but now that I know it’s getting better, it’s a lot easier to handle, and I’m looking forward to next season.”

 The support from U.S. Speedskating staff and her physical therapist has been important, she said, and has allayed any concerns she would have had about her comeback.

 She’s amassed quite a resume since 2022, including a pair of trips to both the World Junior Championships and World Championships. She helped the U.S. team earn a Silver medal in the Women’s 3000m relay at last year’s World Championships.

 Then there was that Olympic trip to Beijing for the Bellevue, Washington, resident who gets home once or twice a year. Though she didn’t get to compete there, the experience proved invaluable.

“I was the youngest one and the relay backup,” she said. “I didn’t compete, but it was great to be there, and that’s the reason I’m working toward that.”

 Lee is a planner, balancing her comeback with school. But school is very much its own animal, and she put as much thought into her strategy there as she does in any race.

 “I think I put a lot of care into where I was applying to college, and what colleges would support me,” she said, adding she met with the dean of every school on her wish list prior to choosing Duke. Duke stood out because it provided her plenty of latitude to go to school and skate.

 "They have granted a lot of exceptions in terms of school policy, like how many classes I have to take,” she said.

 For Lee, inspiration doesn’t only come from Duke and pursuing another Olympic berth. There is the support from her younger sister, Grace, a member of the U.S. short track team. Then there is figure skater Nathan Chen, who attended Yale, and snowboarder Chloe Kim, who went to Princeton.

 "If they can do it, I can do it, too,” she said of the Olympic Gold medalists.

 She already is, and her advice to anyone who wants to be just like her is pretty simple.

 “I think (it’s) definitely finding your own path and proactively communicating with people and knowing what you want,” she said.

Gregg Voss is a journalist based in the Chicago suburbs who has been writing sports for newspapers and magazines for more than 20 years. He is a freelance contributor to U.S. Speedskating on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.