RIDE OF A LIFETIME: Kelly Curtis gets ready to compete in a skeleton race this winter on the World Cup circuit. Curtis, a former star athlete for Princeton High, will be competing for the U.S. this week in the women’s skeleton at the Beijing Winter Games as she makes her Olympic debut. Heats one and two of the event are slated for February 10 (Eastern Time) with heats three and four to take place on February 12. (Photo provided by Kelly Curtis)

By Bill Alden

Throughout her athletic career, Kelly Curtis has displayed a penchant for rising to the occasion.

In her years at Princeton High, Curtis, a 2007 PHS alumna was known for sinking clutch free throws on the basketball court  and flying high on the track, making the Meet of Champions in the long jump.

Doing a post-graduate year at the Lawrenceville School, Curtis racked up Prep A titles on the track, competing in the long jump, high jump, hurdles, and javelin and still holds the school record in the triple jump.

At Springfield College, Curtis came through on one of the biggest stages in collegiate track, winning the heptathlon at the 2011 Penn Relays.

After getting a graduate degree from St. Lawrence University while helping to coach its track team, Curtis got the itch to compete again and was encouraged to head over to nearby Lake Placid to take part in a bobsled combine to see if she had a future in winter sports. Excelling in the fitness tests — which included 5-meter sprints, shot puts, and standing long jumps along with squats and power cleans in the weight room — Curtis was invited to join the bobsled program.

After moving up the ranks in the bobsled, Curtis tried her hand at skeleton, a sliding sport that entails riding a small sled down a frozen track while lying face down during which the rider can reach speeds of more than 80 mph.

Concluding that moving to skeleton gave her the best chance to make the U.S. national team, Curtis changed her focus to that event and achieved that goal last winter, earning a spot on the U.S. World Cup team by placing third in the nationals by one one-hundredth of a second.

This week, Curtis will be competing on the grandest stage of her athletic career, competing for the U.S. in the women’s skeleton at the Beijing Winter Games as she makes her Olympic debut. Heats one and two of the event are slated for February 10 (Eastern Time) with heats three and four to take place on February 12.

True to form, Curtis booked her trip to Beijing by coming through in the clutch, qualifying for U.S. Olympic team on the very last run of the season-ending event in St. Moritz in mid-January.

Athletes earned their spot on the Olympic team by accumulating points throughout the season in international competitions and Curtis found herself in a battle with teammate Megan Henry for the last spot on the U.S. squad.

Curtis came into the race trailing Henry by 60 points but within reach of her if things fell into place.

“I knew it was possible but I also knew I would need a lot of help from my competitors to put distance between me and my teammate,” said the 5’8, 160-pound Curtis, who turned 33 in late January.

“I knew I had to have the best race I had all season on a track that I just learned that week. I knew that I would have to get in the top eight and she would have to get 15th or worse or somewhere in that mix. I knew when I was sliding I was gaining speed, I just wanted to control what I could control with my own personal sliding and whatever happens, happens. When I climbed up and got sixth, I was ‘oh my God.’ I went back and watched the broadcast and the commentators were going crazy saying they think Kelly Curtis just made the Olympics.”

Curtis had in fact edged Henry to earn her spot with her stunning run. Days after the triumph, it still seemed surreal to Curtis. 

“It hasn’t really sunk in, the other night I woke up and I was, ‘oh my God, this is actually happening,’” said Curtis.

“I am in Chula Vista and I just received our Under Armour team kit. Every day it is starting to sink in a little bit more.”

In order to make it happen, Curtis had to put the standings in the back of her mind.

“It is just being present in the moment, learning how to relax but just staying present on the moment,” explained Curtis.

“In my first race of the season, I think I slid so well because I was just so in the moment. Throughout the season once the qualification process started to get closer and closer, I started to tighten up a little more. I started making mistakes that I should not have made. Then for that last race, I was able to say, ‘all right, OK, my job is to have fun and enjoy this.’”

In making her rise up the skeleton ladder, Curtis got a lift by joining the Air Force’s World Class Athlete Program (WCAP) in 2020.

“That came about last season because that was the first season I made the national team so I was finally good enough for the world class athlete program,” said Curtis.

“I was looking to the Army WCAP, their world class athlete program is a bit more established. Within our U.S. Bobsled Federation, we have a number of sliders and coaches who are members of the Army. It was actually my teammate Katie Uhlander who suggested the Air Force program because they were starting to open it up to the civilians. I was the first one to come in as a civilian and go through basic training and enter into the WCAP program.”

That program lets Curtis focus on competition during her season while requiring her to serve in the Air Force in the offseason.

“They helped me out quite a bit, the program allows athletes to train and compete at the highest level and still represent the Air Force,” said Curtis, who moved to Aviano, Italy, with her husband Jeff Milliron, a former star discus thrower and Princeton University track assistant coach and has been assigned to the air base there.

“I am enlisted for active duty and after the games I will be working on base.”

Going through basic training last summer in the San Antonio, Texas area was a transformative experience for Curtis.

“Everything is so different, the first week is very disorienting,” recalled Curtis, who joined the knowledge operations branch of the Air Force. “You figure out a lot of things as you go. I think everybody should go through basic training, you learn a lot about yourself and you get that discipline.”

This winter, Curtis utilized that discipline as she made her debut on the World Cup circuit.

“It is very tough, this is my rookie year so I didn’t know exactly what to expect,” said Curtis. “I have been pretty much chomping at the bit to see where I would stack up against the best in the world. I have been trying to climb the ranks in the U.S. program to get this opportunity.”

Kelly’s father, John Curtis, a former PHS athletic director and All-American football star at Springfield College, is not surprised to see his daughter seize opportunity in the sliding world.

“I told all of my kids to chase your dreams,” said John Curtis, who has two sons, Jay and Jimmy, and a daughter, Kitty, in addition to Kelly.

“The last thing you want to do is be in your 40s and 50s and talk about how, you wished you had done something. She took that to heart.”

It was a heartening experience for Curtis and wife Deb to see their daughter march in with the U.S. team at the Opening Ceremony last weekend.

“It is fantasy and reality, they merged today when I saw Kelly. There are times when it is tough to describe your feelings. I know Deb was in tears. I have seen opening ceremonies since I was 10 on TV not knowing anyone. Seeing her was an experience I thought I would be prepared for, but it was quite emotional.”

The emotions ran high in January when the couple watched their daughter clinch her Olympic spot at the St. Moritz event.

“I saw what she had to do on her final run and deep down inside,” said John Curtis. “I thought she was going to set a PR, on her first one she was so smooth. When I saw that she moved into sixth place, I was shocked. She had to do what she did and then get help from the others. Deb and I just looked at each and we couldn’t believe it. Everything had to fall into place and it did.”

While Curtis never envisioned seeing his
daughter make the Olympics, he believes she followed the philosophy of sports he has imparted as a parent and during his time as PHS AD.

“All I wanted for my kids and the athletes at Princeton High was for them to have a good experience, to be able to appreciate athletics and enjoy it,” said Curtis.

“I want them to be able to go on and take it with you for the rest of your life. You had to work hard to get to a certain point and then have the confidence to go on when people tell you no.”

The Olympian Curtis is confident going into the competition in Beijing.

“It is definitely a technically difficult course and it is very long,” said Curtis.

“It should play up to different people’s strengths than some of the courses during the season. I am really excited. There are 16 curves. St. Moritz is more of what people would call a glider track which is how well you can melt into your sled and just led the sled build speed. On this track you have to do a bit more work throughout the corners.”

Channeling the approach that served her well in St. Moritz, Curtis will not be focusing on the standings as she competes this week.

“It is just try to stay as present as possible and letting go of things that I can’t control,” said Curtis.

“Every day our driving coach has been helping us take the track apart a little bit with video, trying to visualize how it is going to be. There is only so much we can do and then we will have 10 training runs before the competition.”

With Curtis ahead of schedule as she was initially shooting for the 2026 Winter Games in Cortina, she is still a bit stunned to be heading to Beijing.

“This is all the cherry on top, it is still settling in,” said Curtis. “I don’t think it will until the green light goes for me to take my first competition slide.”

And when that green light goes on at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre in Beijing later this week, it won’t be surprising if Curtis rises to the occasion with a memorable performance.