Since he participated in the inaugural Youth Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck 2012, Philip Due Schmidt (DEN) aspired to qualify for the senior Olympic Winter Games one day. In 2023, this dream hit serious jeopardy. Just a few of days before he was due to skate at the World Speed Skating Championships in Heerenveen, Due Schmidt was struck by an epileptic seizure.

After having been in a coma for two days, a long journey back to the ice eventually brought him to the brink of Olympic qualification, but that trauma changed his perspective on the Olympic dream.

Ultimate attempt in Salt Lake City

This season, Philip Due Schmidt managed to skate himself into the top 24 of the Mass Start ranking. In order to be eligible to start in Milan, he also has to achieve a qualifying time in one of the classic distances this season, which he hasn't managed to do yet. 

With the help of family friends and crowdfunding, Due Schmidt travelled to the fast ice of Salt Lake City for a final attempt at the American Cup races this weekend. In order to qualify he has to skate either 1 minute and 48s in the 1500m, or 6 minutes and 30s in the 5000m. 

The 5000m seems to be his best shot: "I skated 6:31.43 at World Cup II in Calgary and 6:33.16 at World Cup I in Salt Lake City, so that's pretty close," Due Schmidt explains. "I'm not sure about racing the 1500m on Friday yet, because I don't want to jeopardize my chances in the 5000m on Saturday. I have to discuss that with my coach."

Philip Due Schmidt competing on the Men's Mass Start during the ISU Speedskating World Cup 2 in November 2022 in Heerenveen, Netherlands ©Getty Images

It started on wheels

For Due Schmidt, Olympic qualification would be more than the fulfillment of a childhood dream, it would also be the reward for resilience and perseverance, as well as the confirmation of his comeback as a top athlete. 

His sports journey began around 2003 in Copenhagen. "I started inline skating when I was six years old," Due Schmidt says. "My brother skated, then my dad started, and I wanted to play football, but my parents were like: let's just try skating once, and I liked it a lot. They were happy because they didn't have to bring their kids to two different sports."

From that first experience onwards, little Philip was hooked to the wheels on tarmac, with brother Stefan (Stefan Due Schmidt), three years his senior, as an example. After a few years on wheels, Philip and his brother also started ice skating. Philip explains: "When I was 13, there was an ISU project in cooperation with Sweden, Finland and Denmark. They wanted to develop the sport in smaller nations with potential to become bigger in long track speed skating. That's how I tried the ice for the first time."

Both Stefan and Philip showed as much talent on the ice as they had already done on wheels, and they both skated international races. In 2012, Philip had the honor of being the Danish flag bearer at the inaugural Youth Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck. Stefan was a senior already, and entered the World Cup circuit in the 2012-2013 season.

"We skated internationally and traveled a lot to training camps," Philip continues. "And it got one more serious. After high school, I took a gap year and went to Inzell and that season, I also raced my first World Cup."

 Philip Due Schmidt skates in the Men's 3000m Speed Skating during the Winter Youth Olympic Games on January 18, 2012 in Innsbruck, Austria ©Getty Images

While Philip had his first full season on the ice, his older brother managed to qualify for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games. In the following years, Philip and Stefan skated together in the Danish team. They just missed out on an Olympic Team Pursuit ticket for the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing. Philip remembers:

"We also had three skaters competing for two spots in the Mass Start, so my brother and I were, in a way, also rivals. I didn't get the spot there, but believe I also had the level."

While he did not skate in Beijing, Philip was a commentator for Danish television remotely, but his Olympic Dream only grew stronger.

Having missed out on the 2022 Olympics, Philip fought back in the 2022-2023 season, finishing 14th in the World Cup standings and qualifying for the World Championships in Heerenveen.

Misfortune strikes

"It was my best season so far, Philip says. "At the World Cup in Poland, I won the semi-final and got seventh in the final, but then I got sick. I felt bad for about five days and lost quite some weight, but when we traveled to Heerenveen I started to feel better again."

Philip took up training again to prepare for the World Championships, when misfortune struck.

"My memory gets a little blurry here," Philip says. "I remember I had to quit a training because I was feeling bad after I did the warm-up. Something felt off. From what happened after that, I know things because my team mates told me afterwards. 

"I trained with and international group, of which the biggest part was the Swiss national team, and they told me that I was acting weird. I fell on the stairs and I was not myself. Back at the hotel, I remember it took me 20 minutes to find the key to my room, while it was in the same pocket all the time. When I got in my room I had to vomit and then I went to bed. I was just super tired.

What must have happened next could only be retraced with Philip's activity trigger.

"Around 11pm, I woke up and probably tried to go to the bathroom because I felt bad or something like that. And then I got a seizure and fell over my bike."

When his teammates didn't see him at breakfast, they thought Philip was still sleeping, and when they didn't show up at lunch, they thought he was out on his bike, but when he was still absent at dinner, they got worried. 

"My coach (Kalon Dobbin, NZL) got to the hotel and together with Viktor Hald Thorup (DEN) and two reception employees of the hotel, they broke into my room. My activity tracker indicates that the seizure had probably started 19 hours earlier."

Philip was taken to hospital.

"I was in a coma for two days. They tried to wake me up turning off the respirator, but I didn't start breathing by myself the first time. Then the second time they did that, it worked."

 When he woke up, Philip didn’t realize what had happened to him yet. He wanted to skate at the World Championships, but that was out of the question.

 "I think I realized quite late how serious it was, and how long the way back would be. When reality hit after a couple of weeks, I thought okay, maybe I first just have to get healthy, and first I have to be able to live a normal day without a headache, without needing three or four naps each day. That's when I realized that the way back even to have a normal life was quite long."

Recovery

Having regained a normal life, Philip got back at speed skating at the first World Cup of the 2023-2024 season in Obihiro, Japan, but that might have been a little too early.

He explains: "I remember there was loud music, and I had to stop a training because I couldn't handle that. It was only eight months after.

 "I still really had to care of my body and make sure I didn't overstimulate by being in a loud environment, in a bright environment, or even being social, which is one of the harder things to avoid. That season, I went a little bit too soon into traveling to Asia to compete and everything, but I really wanted to prove to myself, and to everyone else, that I was back."

After another season in, Philip doesn't have to avoid loud environments of social gatherings anymore, but speed skating at top level is yet another step. He explains:

"At some points, I think I'm still not quite there. The 5000m time that I'm chasing now to qualify for the Olympics, is a time that I've done before, but I haven't done it since the seizure. My skating is back but in these physical endurance events, like the 5000m, I feel like I'm still a bit behind. Next weekend I hope I can say that I'm not anymore. That's the goal of course."

People are there for you

During his recovery, Philip got a lot of support. He says: "I received help from more people than I could imagine, in a lot of different aspects, especially from my parents and my brother, who are closest to me, but also from my whole training group, who were there when it all happened.

"Obviously there's the mental part, just talking with friends and family about what happened and about the way back.

"And then, there's been a financial part, because I lost funding. I didn't have a salary anymore, and I wasn't able to work or study in this period. There have been a lot of people who helped me financially: family and friends, and I did crowdfunding this season, also to be able to be here, now in Salt Lake to race. 

"There have been so many people supporting me, also people that I don't even know. That's where you get confirmation from what you often hear from people who suffered a trauma: that you come to realize that people are there for you."

ISU President Kim Jae Youl visits Philip in the hospital ©ISU

 Proud no matter what

This Saturday will be decisive. Will Philip make it to the Olympic Games in Milan or not? As important as the dream has always been to him, his misfortune and the way back made him realize that's it's not about the destination, but about the journey. He concludes: "If I get that reward to go to the Olympics, it's super nice, but I'm also aware of the fact that it might not happen, and then I've still done the best I could every day, and I'm proud of that no matter what."