Ahead of the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, short track skater Corinne Stoddard envisioned adding a new competition-related tattoo to her collection.

The 24-year-old currently has two on her forearm: one on her wrist depicting the date she earned her first world championship medal in inline skating, and one of the Olympic rings, which she got after her Olympic debut in 2022.

Stoddard began her 2025 season with a sweep of the national titles in all three individual distances, snapping the U.S. record in the women's 1000m in the process. She then went on to log a career-best World Tour campaign, collecting eight individual medals (3 silver, 5 bronze) — marking the first time she ever has skated to 2nd twice or more during a single World Tour season — and lifting the United States to the relay podium thrice. She entered the 2026 Games as the overall world No. 2, expecting to find success in Milan.

But nowhere does the phrase "the best laid plans..." ring more true than on a short track oval.

Stoddard was one of the many top skaters who struggled to find their footing in Milan, slipping three times during her first race day alone. She did not advance beyond the first round in either the 500m or 1000m, and the United States was penalized in the women's relay B final. She did not compete in the mixed relay.

"It was like a mental block. I would feel ready, and then I would get on the ice and my legs would just be jello, and I'd be so nervous, I just couldn't skate. I couldn't do it," Stoddard said. "The pressure was really getting to me, because I knew what I was capable of, and it was the fear of not achieving what I knew I was capable of."

Her confidence began to fade. She didn't understand why she felt so out of control, and she worried she was letting her friends and family down. After a day of rest between the women's relay finals and the 1500m — the last women's event on the Olympic program in Milan — she was ready for one last shot at climbing the podium.

"I kind of went into it like, 'It can't get any worse,' and that took the pressure off of it a little bit," Stoddard said. "All of the support I received from friends and family being like, 'We don't care if you win or lose, we just want you to be happy,' — that made me feel a lot better, too."

Her newfound attitude worked. Stoddard cruised through the distance's opening rounds, winning her quarterfinal heat and finishing 2nd in the semis to make her first A final in Milan. 

She then built on her rediscovered momentum in the final, defending an early lead for several laps before South Korean skaters Kim Gil-Li and Choi Min-Jeong overtook her for gold and silver, respectively, though she held on for bronze.

With the medal, Stoddard became the first ever American woman to make a 1500m podium, the first American woman to earn an Olympic short track medal since 2010, and the first American skater — man or woman — to claim an Olympic medal since 2018.

"I'm just really happy that I was able to prove to myself that I could skate under the Olympic pressure because, for so many days, I was like, 'Oh, maybe I'm not cut out to skate under the pressure of the Olympics, just with everything that was going on," Stoddard said. "I'm really happy that ... I proved to myself that I could do it."

Three weeks later, she mounted a similar performance in the distance at worlds, skating to an individual world championship bronze for the second time in her career.

Stoddard was ecstatic to leave the Olympics with a medal of any color, she said. But much like her first Olympic experience, which was mired by rigid COVID-19 restrictions and a broken nose suffered during one of her races, the frustration she felt in Milan left her feeling unsatisfied. 

"This is not how I want to end my career," she said. "I'm just getting started."

For now, Stoddard plans to rest, hug her dog, and spend some time in Germany training for the inline skating season with her brother. Once the fall rolls around, she'll re-evaluate her most recent short track season and construct a game plan for the next few years.

And as for the tattoo?

"My goal going into Milan was to come home with a gold medal," Stoddard said. "Obviously, I'm really happy with the bronze, but I know that I'm capable of more, so I'm gonna have to wait until 2030 to get that gold medal, and then maybe there'll be another tattoo."