The home crowd roared Sunday afternoon as Parkite Casey Dawson and his speed skating team pursuit U.S. teammates Ethan Cepuran and Emery Lehman crossed the finish line of the eight-lap race at the Salt Lake City World Cup at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns.
Many in the crowd knew records could be broken that day on what’s known in the sport as the “fastest ice on Earth.” Team USA achieved the feat, featuring a Utahn. On Friday night, Frenchman Timothy Loubineaud broke the 5000m world record, and Dawson, the American record in the same event. Minutes after Team USA broke their record and celebrated with a victory lap full of smiles around the rink, Femke Kok of the Netherlands broke the women’s 500m record, which had stood for over a decade.
Team USA broke their own world record of 3:33.66, set in January 2024, also in Salt Lake City, gliding to a 3:32.49 finish on Sunday. Not considered the fastest individuals in long track speed skating, the team dedicated more training, energy and effort to the team event. Racing together again this upcoming weekend at the season’s second World Cup in Calgary, Canada, the trio are the favorites to walk away with the gold at this February’s Milan Olympics.
“I was born and raised in Utah,” Dawson said. “For them, it’s their home away from home, so it’s awesome.”
Lehman said the trio’s strong individual results over the weekend helped contribute toward the record. Home rink advantage, where the group is used to skating under pristine and imperfect conditions, didn’t hurt either.
“It feels like you’re flying,” Cepuran said. “It doesn’t feel like three guys out there; it feels like one unit just floating.”
Dawson feels like Team USA can keep improving and innovating in the event leading up to Milan. The trio revolutionized team pursuit by becoming the first team to not switch their positions mid race, which everyone has since followed. The team won the team pursuit World Championship at the end of the 2024-25 season.
“We think about that every day,” Cepuran said about earning bronze, not gold, in the team pursuit at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. “You can’t take anything for granted.”
“In the back of our minds every time we step on (the ice) is that it’s anybody’s race,” Lehman added. “If we don’t show up, then someone else could win. … We know that all the other teams are just as good as us, but today we were the best.”
Dawson said the group hates losing and keeps their devastating losses, like the 2022 Games bronze, in the back of their minds at all times. His dad, Mike, said Dawson isn’t afraid to put himself out there with the potential of losing however.
“Every parent dreams that their kids will accomplish something beyond what they accomplished,” Mike Dawson said. “For my kids, I don’t think the bar was that high. … My kid has more guts and courage to go out there and take chances.”
Mike said seeing Casey and the team set the record again was just as special as the first time. He knows they’re continuing to push the sport forward, especially in front of the home fans again. Casey was once among the fans inspired by his skating idols.
“It makes you reflect back on the journey to that point,” Mike said. “The rest of the world has very talented skaters individually, and, on paper, they’re well beyond what our three guys are. But, when you look at them as a team, it confounds these other countries because they’re like, ‘Wait a second, we should be crushing these guys.’”
Mike said Casey had all sorts of people from his journey in speed skating on hand over the weekend in Kearns cheering him on. He said he and Casey’s mom are thrilled to see him happy and finding success in his sport and life.
“We’re pretty excited to see what happens next,” Mike said. “We’ll be in Calgary, Holland and Norway.”
Casey’s parents could easily be spotted in the stands wearing custom t-shirts with Casey’s face on them. Casey stood out off the ice donning a pink backpack and a phone case with a plastic foot attached to it, fantasy football-losing punishments among the team, which stays as close out of the rink as they follow each other in it during the team pursuit.
“My goal, other than going to the Olympics, is to keep inspiring the next generation,” Casey said. “I was the kid 10 years ago watching people break world records. … After the race, there was a line of kids wanting to get signatures from us. It was great because, who knows, we might see those kids skating in the next couple years and in the 2034 Olympics here in Salt Lake.”
