Patrick Meek
Patrick Meek accelerates during a race at the 2009 Single Distance National Championships
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| Personal information | |
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| Born |
November 10, 1985 Evanston, Illinois |
| Alma mater | University of Utah |
| Website | www |
| Sport | |
| Country |
 United States
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| Sport | Speed skating |
Patrick Meek (born November 10, 1985) is American speed skater who represented the United States at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Meek began speed skating at age two, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. After high school, he moved to Utah to further his speed skating career. He made the national team in 2006 and participated in the 2006 and 2010 Olympic Trials without success.
Meek placed second in the 10,000 meters at the 2012–2013 National Championships. In 2013, he won two national titles taking the 25,000 and 50,000 meter events. In December, he placed third in the 5,000 meters at the Olympic Trials and thus qualified for his first Olympics. At the Olympics, Meek placed 20th in the 5,000 meters and 10th in the 10,000 meters after being added to the start list when other skaters withdrew.
Patrick Meek was born November 10, 1985 in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois into a family of avid speed skaters. His father was a speed skating coach and national team member, and his grandfather skated competitively at the club level. Meek's younger sister Kathleen also skated for a while, but gave up the sport as a kid. By age two, basically as soon as he could walk, Meek was on speed skates learning the sport. He grew up in the Chicago suburbs before moving to St. Louis, Missouri.
Meek graduated from high school in St. Louis in 2004 and moved to Utah to further his speed skating career. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from the University of Utah in 2009. As of 2014, he is working on a post-graduate degree at Ashworth College.
Meek made the national speed skating team in 2006. He elected to pursue distance events, realizing he did not have the proper physical characteristics for sprints and was well suited psychologically for long races. At the 2006 Olympic Trials, Meek had no aspirations of making the team but turned in a personal best in the 10,000 meters. 2010 was a different story – Meek expected to make the team and was devastated when his personal best time came up short. "At that moment, I [couldn't] get past the fact that I didn’t make the Olympic team", he later commented. "It was tough watching the event you’d committed your life to [on TV]."
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