Princeton High School’s very own Kelly Curtis ’07 competed at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in the sport of skeleton. After previously making history as the first Black athlete to represent team USA in skeleton during the Beijing Olympics, Curtis returned to the Olympics, competing on February 13, 2026. In the process, Curtis, the top American in women’s skeleton, managed to finish the training runs behind first place by only 1.15 seconds. She ultimately placed 12th in the final rankings, demonstrating her resilience and perseverance in the sport. Outside of the sliding track, she serves in the U.S. Air Force World Class Athlete Program, which is an initiative designed to allow athletes to participate in elite events such as the Olympics while also remaining in the military. Additionally, her journey was also interrupted by the birth of her daughter, which sidelined her from the track.
How did you initially start skeleton? What were your steps to getting to this level?
My father was the athletic director of Princeton High School in the ‘90s, and he left right before I entered high school. I think just that solid foundation of trying so many different sports and finding success in some and not in others ... I think that was foundational. And then in high school, I was known as a basketball player and I just ran track and field more so to stay in shape for basketball. But in college, I went and competed collegiately in the heptathlon, [which helped] also create another solid foundation of ... different skills. And after college, I was in graduate school coaching track and field in upstate New York. And that was close enough where I could go to Lake Placid for a combine. From there, I was invited to a bobsled driving school. At that driving school, I liked bobsled, but I didn’t love it. I saw skeleton and I tried it in 2013. [I] finished graduate school in 2014, went out for skeleton, but ended up joining the bobsled team in 2014 and then [I] went full-time skeleton in 2015.
In between the Beijing 2022 Olympics and this year’s Winter Olympics, how did you and your team train or how did you work to improve from the last Olympics?
We do a lot of reflection, feedback, assessment, and then see what worked well in the past quad and see what didn’t. Hopefully, we can get some fundraising going and go into our research and development and have a little bit more of an edge going into the next [Olympic] Games. I think we were just outmatched these past Games by some of the technological advances of some of the well-funded countries.
As a Staff Sergeant in the Air Force, you represent the U.S. in two very different uniforms. How do you balance serving in the Air Force and training and competing?
There’s really no way to completely balance something. Something is always needing attention while I’m giving attention to others. Especially trying to become an Olympian, a multiple-time Olympian at that, it’s not a balanced lifestyle. Everything is focused [on] these particular goals. [As a result], other things are on the back burner. I would say keeping up with family and friends had to take a backseat for this past couple of weeks. My family came out to support me and it was amazing, but I’m like, ‘I don’t want to be in any of the group chats’ [or] ‘I’ll hang out with you guys after the games.’ Once you’re so focused on one thing, you have to give it everything.
And now, I can take the foot off of that pedal and I’m going back to doing everything that I need to do for the military and I’m right here at Aviano Air Base, so I’ll still stay up to date with everything that I need to do here. It’s a bit of an unbalanced act, I would say. It’s like everything towards one particular goal. And then once that’s done, then you reassess, you calm down, then you go toward something else.