2022 Salt Lake City UCAP Conference

Noelle Pikus Pace was favored to win the gold medal in skeleton going into the 2006 winter Olympics. At the U.S. Olympic trials in October of 2005 an unfortunate accident kept her from competing at the Olympic Games. A bobsled unexpectedly came out of the track and hit her. She sustained a compound fracture to her lower right leg and was unable to compete in the Olympics. Four years later Noelle competed in the 2010 Winter Olympics, on a sled that her husband built, and was the top U.S finisher finishing 4th, just one-tenth of a second out of the medals. A couple of years later she came out of retirement to give it one last try to earn an Olympic medal. On February 14, 2014 Noelle crossed the finish line, winning the silver medal at the Sochi, Russia Olympic Winter Games. The incredible moment was solidified as Noelle jumped into the stands to embrace her family while shouting, “We did it!”. A mother of four, Noelle is the author of Focused: Keeping Your Life on Track One Choice at a Time.