Local Ties on Olympic Ice

Two young ladies with ties to the Charlotte area are competing today in the women's 500m race at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Heather Richardson, 20, and Lauren Cholewinski, 21, will be racing for their first Olympic medals in this individual sport.

Richardson is from High Point and as a kid her mother would bring her to the ice rink at Eastland Mall to train with a coach (those were the good old days of Eastland that we often hear about, before I, and probably most of you, moved to Charlotte). Cholewinski was born in Pineville and grew up in York and Rock Hill. She now lives in Utah, where she trains.

Heather Richardson, left, and Lauren Cholewinski.

The women's 500m race starts at 4 p.m. (1 p.m. Vancouver time) and will air at 8 p.m. on NBC. Richardson and Cholewinski are among the four Americans who make up the pool of 36 women competing in this event from around the world.