Blue Wahoos Honor Olympic Speedskater Mia Manganello Who Made History In Her Final Race

A couple months later, U.S. Olympian Mia Manganello paused to gather emotions, as she stood behind home plate at Blue Wahoos Stadium and reflected on her historic speedskating feat.

Manganello, 36, a Fort Walton Beach native and former Crestview resident, became the first U.S. speedskater – male or female – to earn an Olympic medal in the mass start event of speedskating competition at the 2026 Winter Games on Feb. 21 at the ice oval stadium in Milan, Italy.

“It’s special,” she said, her voice briefly cracking, prior to being honored May 7 with a crowd-cheering recognition and ceremonial first pitch experience before the Blue Wahoos game that night against the Rocket City Trash Pandas.

“My last Olympics. It was a medal,” she said. “It was something I dedicated 20-plus years of my life to doing. It felt like a storybook.”

Her journey reads like one, too.

Manganello began inline skating competition at 8-years-old, learning, training and competing at places like Dreamland Skate Center in Pensacola, Gulf Breeze Skating and Fun Center, along with other facilities in Northwest Florida.

Her parents, Dominic and Karen, then owned Mia’s Italian Restaurant, named after their daughter, of course, formerly located on South Ferdon Blvd. in Crestview.

“My dad drove me all over the place in this area to compete,” she said. “When I was 13, I decided I wanted to try and make the Olympics.

“At that point I had been competing nationally and internationally with inline speed skating. And I decided I wanted to do more. So, the transition would have to be on ice, because inline speed skating wasn’t an Olympic sport. So, we had to find ice.”

The Manganellos briefly found it when moving to Ocala. Mia’s parents sold their restaurant. But after a short time in Ocala, the family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, home of the U.S. Olympic Speedskating Training Center.

“I don’t want to sound egotistical, but my whole life I strived to be the best,” Mia said. “But I just wanted to be the best and push myself to my limit and for me that was always the Olympics.

“And growing up in sports, that’s what you see.;. you see everybody striving to be at the Olympics and that was the podium I wanted to reach. That is where I wanted to be and luckily I had crazy parents believed in me.”

Within a year on ice, she adapted to the differences from inline skating on concrete rinks to speed skating on ice. Each day at the training center, Manganello would see the top times from women competing for Olympic spots.

“Luckily I started (transition to ice speed skating) at a pretty young age and at that point it’s pretty adaptable,” said Manganello, who also visited her elementary school, Walker Elementary in Crestview during her return home. “And it’s pretty similar to inline speed skating. It took me maybe a year to get my bearings and be able to put a lot together.

“Every day I would walk into the oval and see who I needed to beat,” she said. “Every weekend you had practice races and you would see their times and see your times and you could visibly see the difference.

“So, every day I had that drive. But ultimately it took me 15 years from once I stepped on ice to making my first Olympics.”

She qualified for her first Olympics in 2018. In 2022 at the Winter Games in Beijing, she finished fourth in the Mass Start, and competed for Team USA in Women’s 3000 Meters and 1500 Meters events.

She also became an accomplished cyclist, winning a points championship in 2015 as member of the Visit Dallas DNA Pro Cycling team. But in the past couple years the focus was getting on the podium in before retiring after her final Olympic competition.

At Milan, the Mass Start was her last Olympic event of her career. The finals in the event are 16 competitors starting in a pack and racing 16 laps or roughly 6,400 meters. The best in the world in a pack skate-for-all.

“Up to that moment, I had not really believed that I was also one of the best in that event,” she said. “Luckly, I had a wonderful World Cup season. I was ranked number one in the world at the World Cup. So, I had a bit of confidence, but it was my first time being at that level, being considered a potential winner.

“Crazy enough, there really weren’t a lot of nerves (as she approaching start line). I had a lot of contentment and pride in what I had accomplished and that win or lose I was super proud of myself. I am sure that helped. I was more aware of surroundings and not nervous," she said.

What made her nervous May 7 was throwing out a first pitch at Blue Wahoos Stadium.

“I played ball at a young age, but it’s been a long time ago,’’ she said, laughing. “And this humidity makes me fear the ball will slip out.”

It didn’t. She threw a one bounce strike to home plate. Her parents were seating behind the third base dugout with cell phone cameras to record. Her boyfriend, who also just retired as a two-time Olympic medalist from the U.S. Men’s Speedskating Team, was behind home plate to record as well.

Manganello is moving with him to Chicago where both will now start the next chapter in their lives. Mia’s parents moved back to Northwest Florida, after she reached adult age and for some time owned a pizzeria, Dominic’s, in Valparaiso, near Crestview, but are now retired from the business.

“Now, as I approach that age they were when they made that decision to take me to Salt Lake City, is really mind-blowing to me. I can’t comprehend making that decision,” she said. “I’m just so grateful. And that moment at the (Olympic) Games, I just had such a feeling of relief on getting a medal.”