Track: As he sets out to become the first African American to medal in both the summer and winter Olympic games, Manteo Mitchell has a secret key to success: the Apex Brain Center in Arden, North Carolina.
Mitchell: It’s just a crazy attribute that you can add that most people either are afraid to pursue or just don’t know about.
NAT: Metronome training
Track: Dr. Henry Zaremba uses metronome training to help the track star-turned-bobsledder with impulse control and focus.
Zaremba: The cool thing about the machine is that, down to the millisecond, it gives him feedback.
Track: After a car accident that left Mitchell seriously injured, he started working to overcome a mental block. Dr. Zaremba works with the athlete to improve his reflexes and brain function.
NAT: Reflex training
Zaremba: He’s been coming here since 2016, so even before I started working here.
Track: The Shelby, North Carolina native won a silver medal in the 4 x 400 relay during the 2012 Olympic Games. But he never ran in the finals.
Mitchell: Halfway into my leg of the race, my left fibula bone snapped. And then, as the story would go, I kept running. And by doing that, we actually set an Olympic record in the preliminary event, which still stands to this day.
Track: Mitchell propelled Team USA to the finals, earning him a silver medal. A graduate of Western Carolina University, Mitchell decided to retire from track in 2020. At about the same time, while travelling to the North Carolina town he’s named after, Manteo Mitchell received a call from USA Bobsledding and Skeleton, asking him to join the team.
Mitchell: In track and field, you’re just running, but you’re still doing like lifting and plyometrics and all that stuff. But in bobsled, it’s just like NASCAR on ice, but you’re the pit crew.
Track: Now, Mitchell is training in his home state for the 2026 Winter Olympics, working out at UNC Asheville on the track and in the weight room. Mitchell also travels to Lake Placid, New York, to train on the bobsled track. Lake Placid is the backup site for the 2026 olympic sliding events.
NAT: Bobsled
Mitchell: No matter what I’ve done, I get to call North Carolina home, and I get to come back here.
Track: As the games near, Mitchell says he doesn’t feel pressure, though he’s destined to make history as one of the few to ever compete in both the summer and winter games.
Mitchell: To be the best athlete you can be, not only in one sport but in two that are totally different. That’s the medal in itself.
Track: In Asheville, I’m Madeleine Ahmadi reporting
