By Amy Tennery

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Mystique Ro hopes to take her meteoric rise to the top of the podium at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in February, as she bids to end a nearly quarter-century American gold medal drought in the skeleton.

The track and field athlete-turned-slider only made her World Cup debut in 2023, but has emerged in a short time as a contender to watch.

Her maiden World Cup win in 2024, the first for the U.S. in eight years, “brought the Americans back on the map,” she said. Ro followed that up with World Championship silver a year later, the Americans’ first world medal in 12 years.

She also took gold in the mixed event with teammate Austin Florian and believes the U.S. have enough talent in their ranks to medal in skeleton at the 2026 Games.

“We can podium…

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