What it’s like to watch the 2026 Olympics with an Olympic silver medalist

If NBC is looking for another core analyst to join their team in 2030, they need look no further than Noelle Pikus Pace.

Sitting at her home in Saratoga Springs, Utah, on Saturday morning with her husband, Janson Pace, and their four children (Lacee, 18, Traycen, 14, Maki, 10, and Payton, 10), the 2014 Olympic silver medalist watched the final heat of the women’s skeleton competition at the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics, 12 years to the day she won her silver medal. olympic

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It was almost as if NBC had placed a microphone in Pace’s house and was broadcasting Pace’s race commentary to his team, which included Pace’s former teammate and roommate Bree Schaaf.

From telling American Mystique Roe to “suck it up” to pointing to past medalists and saying Germany’s Susanne Kreher was guaranteed at least a silver medal, Pace was predicting what analysts would say almost word for word, seconds before they said it.

“Do you like how I keep saying everything he says?” he said with a smile.

Each occasion brought laughter to the Pace family, with Janson emphasizing that the race was live and that his wife had no prior knowledge of what the analysts were going to say.

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Twelve years after winning her silver medal, Pace invited a Deseret News reporter and photographer to her home to watch some of her former skeleton competitors live, including this year’s gold medalist from Austria, Janine Flock.

“It’s encouraging to see that there are still athletes who competed when I competed. But most likely these will be the last Olympic Games that I will have athletes that I competed with or against,” he said. “So after this, I probably won’t know who those athletes are.”

He added: “This is a fun Games to watch because I still know a handful of athletes as competitors, and it’s exciting to see them and their longevity in the sport and that they’re still fighting for it, they’re still fighting for that podium.”

The Paces: a family of skeletal analysts

It became clear that the Pace family knows their skeleton when they discussed the athletes’ careers. And it wasn’t just Noelle and Janson. Both Lacee and Traycen, who were present at their mother’s last Olympics, added their own comments.

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Lacee Pace was just 6 years old when her mother won her silver medal (she still remembers applauding in the stands in Russia), but you wouldn’t know that from her skeletal IQ.

“I like listening to Lacee comment on the skeleton. I say, ‘Oh, she knows.’ She always says, ‘Ooh, ah, ah.'” But before Pace could finish his thought, Lacee Pace interjected: “He’s got his head too high.”

Pace agreed with her daughter’s observation. “I’m proud of you. You see those things. It’s amazing,” she said.

Lacee Pace, a high school track athlete, will soon serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints across the mountains that form the backdrop of the Milan Olympic venues in the Swiss Alps.

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While none of the Pace children have played their sport, Saturday morning’s viewing of skeletons inspired the family to come up with a plan for each of the four Pace children to be part of Team USA when the Winter Games return to Utah in 2034.

Lacee Pace will take up speed skating as well as curling in mixed doubles with Traycen, who is putting his golf career on hold to form a brother-sister team like this year’s gold medalists Isabella and Rasmus Wranå of Sweden.

Maki will follow in her mother’s footsteps and be the next skeleton star of the Pace family. His response earned him a high five from his mother. Payton will compete in bobsledding, which disappointed her mother a little, but still earned her a high five since it’s a sliding sport.

“Luge is really good,” he said, later adding that he will enroll the twins, who are in the class of 2034, in speed skating lessons.

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Watching a friend become a gold medalist

By the fourth heat, the Austrian Flock was leading the competition. And aside from Roe and fellow American Kelly Curtis, whom Pace previously said she was excited to support, she supported Flock.

The Austrian made her Olympic debut at the same Olympic Games where Pace won her silver medal. Pace described her as “one of the sweetest athletes on the circuit.”

“Oh, I really hope you understand this,” Pace said as Flock began to run. The two-time Olympian smiled and stared at the TV, almost wishing Flock would win gold from her couch. “She’s so good. You can see the wisdom. Oh my God.”

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Pace couldn’t keep his hands still, alternating between clenching his fists, clapping his hands, resting them under his knees, and back again.

“She did it. She’s leading the way,” Janson said of Flock.

“She still has to come up,” Pace corrected him, pointing with his hand. “Right here, right here, right here.”

Pace raised his arms in celebration and leaned back on the couch once Flock crossed the finish line. Her friend and former competitor had finally won her first Olympic medal.