On October 2, 3, 4 and 11, 2018, Bank of Utah will host an exclusive event for our customers and friends in the business community. Please be our guest at our Annual Fall Author Event featuring two-time Olympic athlete, Noelle Pikus Pace.
Come listen, learn and enjoy lunch with us.
Register Here
About Noelle Pikus Pace
In 2005, Noelle Pikus Pace became the first American woman in history to win the Overall World Cup title in the high speed, daredevil sport of skeleton. Racing at speeds approaching 85 mph, headfirst, on her stomach, on a small sled, with her face just inches from the ice, Noelle had climbed the ranks of her sport and established herself as the undisputed favorite to win the gold medal at the upcoming Olympic Games. She was the best in the world. Her lifelong dream was within reach.
Tragically, three months before the Olympics got underway, Noelle was injured in a freak training accident. She was hit by a run-a-way bobsled and suffered a severe compound leg fracture.
Despite a valiant effort to return to competition in time for the Olympics, there was not enough time to heal properly, she failed to qualify, and her Olympic dream slipped away.
The following season, Noelle returned and won the World Championships by the largest margin of victory in the history of the sport. She then announced her athletic retirement. She and her husband Janson welcomed their first child, daughter Lacee, in 2008.
Feeling the itch to try again, in 2009, Noelle returned to competition in time to compete in the 2010 Olympics Games, but finished heartbreakingly short of the podium. She missed her Olympic medal by just four tenths of a second.
Ready to move on with her life, she retired from the sport again, this time she thought for good, and had her second child, son Traycen. In the Spring of 2012, the Paces suffered a late miscarriage of their third child. Noelle was devastated.
Months later, it was Janson who suggested she take one more shot at her place in Olympic history. He felt it would be a good way to heal, and to move forward as a family. Noelle agreed, but only if he and the kids went with her every step of the way. They would travel the world as a family, with both kids, diapers and toys in tow, and take one last shot at the Olympic podium.
The cost and challenges of traveling the worldwide skeleton competition circuit were enormous but they faced every challenge with a smile and as a family. While Mommy went off to the track or gym to train, Daddy tended to the kids every step of the way.
February 15, 2014, on a frigid night in the mountains of Sochi, Russia, Noelle put the final exclamation point on a 12 year journey to the Olympic podium, winning the silver medal. She leapt from her sled, climbed into the stands and jumped into the arms of her family in a quintessential Olympic moment that capped off the career of one of the greatest athletes the sport had ever seen.
Noelle is now the mother of four and is the author of the critically acclaimed book “FOCUSED, Keeping Your Life On Track One Choice At A Time.” She is the Founder & President of PACE Performance Strategies through which she speaks to audiences across the country about inspiration, business-building and personal development.
Noelle and her family reside in Saratoga Springs, Utah.
