Austin Kleba

Memorable sporting achievement

Competing at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. (Instagram profile, 25 Feb 2022)

Reason for choosing this sport

"I played ice hockey and decided I wanted to go faster."

Most influential person in career	US speed skater Joey Mantia, and coach Ryan Shimabukuro. (The Speedskating Video Podcast YouTube channel, 11 Dec 2022; Athlete, 16 Nov 2019)
Hero / Idol	US short track skater Apolo Anton Ohno. (Athlete, 16 Nov 2019)

Name of coach	Ryan Shimabukuro [national], USA
When and where did you begin this sport?	He began speed skating in 2014 in Glen Ellyn, IL, United States of America.

Sporting philosophy / motto	"If it doesn't hurt, you're not doing it right." (Athlete, 16 Nov 2019)
Hobbies	Making and recording music. (Instagram profile, 10 Aug 2023)
Injuries	In mid-2013, while he was still playing ice hockey, he sustained shoulder injuries and needed orthopedic surgery followed by a six-month recovery. Three months after he returned to training, he dislocated his shoulder, and later in mid-2014 he sustained another shoulder injury. (shawlocal.com, 25 Jul 2017; teamusa.org, 26 Mar 2015)
Other information	ICE HOCKEY TO SPEED SKATING He began ice skating at age three on hockey skates and played ice hockey competitively for 12 years before shoulder problems influenced his decision to switch to speed skating in 2014. "My doctor had a serious talk with me about the benefits and downsides of staying in the sport [ice hockey]. He said there was a 100% chance that I would injure my shoulder again and need to get reconstructive surgery. The time off for this would probably mean the end to my career as a hockey player. So I decided to try something new instead, and start off on a clean slate. I was a fast hockey player, that was probably my best part of hockey that I was good at. My mum always kind of joked, 'Oh, you should try speed skating'. I saw the Olympics all the time, and I thought it was really cool, but I was so involved in hockey. There's actually a huge advantage being a hockey player in speed skating. In the start of a race, you can tell who's a hockey player. They're just such a big advantage for the start, because a lot of speed skaters don't have that fast twitch that you get from playing hockey for so long." (teamusa.org, 09 Nov 2021, 26 Mar 2015; shawlocal.com, 25 Jul 2017; US Speedskating YouTube channel, 02 Nov 2016; olympics.com, 12 Feb 2016) MUSICIAN He has been making music since age 14 and has taken music theory classes. "I really like the recording aspect of it. That way I can jam out with myself. I love to go jam out with other people, but in most cases I don't have a full day to find a group of people to play with. Having my own recording stuff I can loop my own sounds and work on my own music. [US rapper] Mac Miller's part of the reason I got into music. He's not just rapping, he's making music. It's a song. I really respected him as an artist, and that's what got me into making and producing my own music." (Instagram profile, 10 Aug 2023; teamusa.org, 09 Nov 2021)

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