Julie Letai felt like everything was working against her.
It started with a torn labrum in her hip that required surgery in October 2024. A rash of other injuries over the course of the year followed for the short-track speedskater from Medfield.
Each injury pushed her away from the ice for weeks at a time. That fueled questions in her own mind if she would be ready for the World Cup trials this past September, an event she needed to perform well at to keep her Olympic dream alive.
And deep down, Letai felt her chance of making the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina slipping away. But even with adversity engulfing her, she wouldn’t allow herself to be conquered by it.
“On a personal level, it feels like a very deep experience because there was a lot of doubt and there were a lot of times I was inches away from quitting, that stuff didn’t feel worth it,” Letai said. “But it was just kind of that what-if that I couldn’t shake from my head. It was that childlike hope that wouldn’t leave me alone whenever I wanted to quit.”
Letai suffered a stress injury in her femur and some quad tears a month before the World Cup trials – a month prior to that she had to recover from a concussion – that made training for the all-important event almost impossible.
Recovery from that injury was supposed to take four weeks. She took just two weeks off and skated every other day for a week-and-a-half prior to the competition. Letai’s unwavering tenacity propelled her and she finished second in the 500-meter race and second overall in the entire competition to qualify for the short track world team.
Letai called making that team a “bigger made-it moment” than when she qualified for the Olympics in December as the tremendous doubt and stress she felt released from her body.
She did give herself a chance to soak in making her second Olympics, though, but it came in a quiet moment in her room when she could reflect on all she had overcome.
“It wasn’t really until a couple weeks after being home that it kind of more hit me of like I actually made it,” Letai said. “I did the thing I’ve been stressing about for the past year-and-a-half. I don’t have to feel this doubt anymore. I actually did it.”
This trip to the Olympics will be much different than Letai’s first go-around with the premiere international event.
When the Winter Olympics were last held in 2022 in Beijing, COVID-19 protocols were still at the forefront of the Games, tempering the experience of it. Letai is eager to see what a full Olympic experience will look like while competing in the 500m, 1000m and relay.
Letai admitted that in Beijing, she was just happy to be at her first Olympics. That’s not her mindset this time.
“I think you go back for a second Olympics, it’s because you want to be one of the contenders, you want a medal, you want to be a name that people are kind of worried to see on their race list,” Letai said.
Letai won’t be at full strength for the Olympics. She said skating at “100% has probably left the building” with her hip acting up and requiring an injection recently to deal with the pain.
But Letai will look to personify her hometown roots to guide her on the biggest of stages.
“When I think of Boston I think of grit and that’s what I’ll be channeling,” Letai said.
Letai put on skates for the first time when she was two and tried to keep up with her two older siblings. She learned mostly through figure skating, but when competitions began occurring when she was around six years old, she knew it was time to leave that sport behind.
“I knew that would mean wearing these tutus and really girly outfits and I was a huge tomboy back then,” Letai said. “I was like, ‘There’s no way I’m doing that. Like I can’t do this sport then.’”
Letai found speedskating with the Bay State Speedskating Club, which practiced out of Rodman Arena in Walpole. She wasn’t a natural at the sport, but quickly took to liking it.
And it was in that arena that her Olympic dreams took shape and her relentless determination rose to the surface.
“For me it was much more about trying as hard as I could, focusing as much as I could and taking in every piece of advice and doing everything I can to become better,” Letai said.
Letai is unsure how these Olympics will go for her, especially if her hip can’t hold up under the pressure. Medals might elude her once again and she could home empty-handed.
But after all she endured, it was already completely worth it to not give up on this chance.
“My commitment to just making sure on the whole that coming to training and being with my team and trying my best to improve is a positive experience then there really is no losing,” Letai said. “There’s a lot of potential bonuses like medals and doing well in races would be great. But our coach said it too, failure is impossible now. We made it.”
