Speed Skater Treacy Aiming To Inspire

In our third and final part of a Nottingham-based preview of the XXV Winter Olympics, we now take a long at a present day, winter star.

This week, the eyes of the sporting world have been cast upon Milan-Cortina, in Northeast Italy, the venue(s) of the XXV Winter Olympics (running from Friday 6 February – Sunday 22 February 2026).

Although born in Henley-in-Arden, in nearby Warwickshire, 25-year-old Beijing Olympian, Niall Treacy, who is a resident of these parts through his university education at the University of Nottingham.

Hitting the books, Treacy studies Industrial Economics, however, at the Nottingham Ice Centre, it’s a whole new kettle of fish, with the past few years having seen an increase in profile for the winter athlete.

Treacy finished fourth in Debrecen, Hungary, in the 2021 World Cup, becoming one of a three-person run in Beijing, when finishing 27^th in the men’s 1000m; his presence in fact shows a decrease in numbers at the Games – at PyeongChang in 2018 there was four, in Beijing three, and now, in Milan-Cortina, he’ll be the only Short Track speed skater.

With a silver at the European Championship, and bronze in the ISU Short Track World Tour in 2024, Treacy is set for competing in all three men’s events – 500m, 1000m, and 1500m, saying in an interview here with UoN prior to departure that: “I think that’s been my mentality going into each race in the qualifiers and the World Championships (focus on his own race and not worry about others).

“I think it’ll be the same when I get to Milano Cortina.

“There’ll be about five to eight athletes each heat and it’s basically the top two that go through.

“So, my mentality is that I’m just here to get top two in this initial race and go from there.

“To me, it doesn’t matter too much who you’re racing because I’ve raced these guys quite a lot and the results change all the time.

“I think that’s the beauty of Short Track Speed Skating because somebody can go in as the clear favourite, but because of the unpredictability of the sport anything can happen.

“So that’s something I keep in mind and focus on making sure I perform at my very best and see what comes of it.

“For the 500m and 1,000m to qualify for the final it’ll be heats then quarters and semi-finals, and then for the 1,500m because there’ll be more people in each race it’s only quarter finals and semi-finals to qualify.

“Those races will also be spread wider across the whole two weeks, so I’ll possibly be racing every other day.

“It will be something I’ve never really done before because again, at the last Games I only had one distance, so once I was then knocked out of that distance, I was done.

“Whereas, this time it will be a new challenge, having to reset after races and go into another distance and competition essentially.”

So, for Treacy, to make the finals of each event he’s competing in, he’ll be racing eleven times during the ten-day timeframe for the short track speed skating event(s), with the 500m event being the (projected) last of his outings.

He’s hoping that, with a combination of past experience, and the number of appearances in principle at the ’26 Games, that claiming any kind of medal will help the future of the sport on these shores.

Late last year Treacy, in an interview with Ealing Times (HERE), spoke of his love of the sport, and the future aspirations not just for himself, but everyone. He said: “I would love for the British public to love it as much as I do.

“Even if I can inspire one person to put on a pair of skates and start then it’s worth it.

“I think sometimes at the Games, it has felt like short track has not had the best representation for Great Britain and so I would like to right that wrong and showcase that we can do it quite well in the UK.”

He now needs to turn recent form, from the Europeans, and World Tour, into an Olympic medal; with his being the only GB athlete in this particular discipline, the onus is firmly on Treacy, adding in his Ealing Tomes interview: “From an individual standpoint, some of the results that I have done over the past year or last year have shown that if I race right, and have a bit of short track luck, then I am in a good position to get a medal.

“But week in and week out I would like to be more consistent.

“I have the physical capabilities to race these guys and the medals show that to myself and others.

“I will need to take it each race as it comes but no one is unbeatable and so I need to use that to my advantage.”

Good Luck to Niall Treacy and all the Great Britian athletes competing at the XXV Winter Olympics.

The 2026 Winter Olympics takes place in Milan-Cortina between 6-22 February, with the speed skating set to take place between 10 – 20 February 2026, at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.