Marcus Howard

Reason for choosing this sport

At age seven he was inspired to aim for the Olympic Winter Games after listening to a talk given by US short track skater John Robert Celski at Pattison's West Skating Center, where Celski also began his sporting career. "[Listening to Celski] put everything in perspective. Everyone starts somewhere. And starting out somewhere similar to where he started made me feel a lot more confident."

Hero / Idol	US short track skater John Robert Celski. (teamusa.org, 12 Aug 2021)
Ambitions	To compete at the Olympic Winter Games. (seattletimes.com, 19 Oct 2021)

When and where did you begin this sport?

Before taking up short track, he began inline skating at Pattison's West Skating Center in Federal Way, WA, United States of America. "It allowed me to have an edge going to the ice by having an inline background."

Sporting philosophy / motto	"I am pretty quick off the line. I am a really fast opener, which gives me a really big advantage over most of the other skaters, and just moving my feet as fast as I can to skate away. [But] a lot of my skating is rushed compared to everybody else and that causes me to lose a little bit of speed. So I am focusing on keeping smooth, keeping my technique and being balanced and patient." (seattletimes.com, 19 Oct 2021)
Other information	FROM WASHINGTON TO UTAH At age 16 he moved from Federal Way, WA, to Salt Lake City, UT, where he joined US Speedskating's Facilitated Athlete Sport Training [FAST] programme. In 2021 he was living with US short track skater John Robert Celski and his wife, Andrea Do-Duc, the short track programme director for US Speedskating. "It was pretty rough [moving away from family]. I didn't have any cooking experience and the FAST teams start skating at 05:45 in the morning. So it was kind of rough, but I got used to it." His first senior international competition was the 2021 World Championships in Dordrecht, Netherlands, where he was part of the US team that finished seventh in the 5000m relay. "I had never been out of the country and it was really a fun experience to see how other skaters from different countries skated." In May 2021 he was promoted from the FAST programme to the senior US national team. "Usually you skate on the FAST team for three to four years and then you get bumped up. That was really big for me." (seattletimes.com, 19 Oct 2021; teamusa.org, 12 Aug 2021)

Name of coach

Stephen Gough [national], CAN

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