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Stop me if you've heard this one before: North Carolina kid trades inline skates for ice skates and rises quickly through the ranks, just in time to make a run at the Winter Olympics.

No one is calling Heather Richardson the next Joey Cheek just yet, but she's definitely an athlete to watch as the countdown to the Vancouver Olympics hits the one-year mark this week.

Richardson, a 19-year-old from High Point, is the reigning U.S. champion in long-track speedskating's sprint events and recently finished 20th at the World Sprints.

"At the beginning of the year, my goal was just to qualify for the World Sprints," Richardson said last week by phone from Salt Lake City, where she trains. "Now my goal is to qualify for the World Single Distance Championships and skate well there."

With one World Cup meet remaining (March 6-7 in Salt Lake City), Richardson holds 24th place in the World Cup standings for 1,000 meters, giving her a good shot at the World Singles a week later. Events in that meet are in a one-race, winner-take-all format like the Olympics and this year will be held at -- you guessed it -- the Richmond Olympic Oval just outside Vancouver.

"The goal (in training) is to get a simulation and sense of what Richmond is going to be like in a month, and set up some scenarios for next year," said Ryan Shimabukuro, head coach of the U.S. sprinters.

Richardson's sights had been set on the 2014 Olympics, and that made perfect sense until she started outperforming veterans on the American team. She swept all four races at the national championships in Milwaukee as 2008 drew to a close, defeating two returning Olympians in the process.

Richardson began racing on inlines when she was 9, inspired by her parents, who each had competed on quad-style roller skates. Within five years, she was good enough to race on the world junior team but was dabbling in ice skating, too. In 2005, she won gold in three of the sprint events at the junior world inline championships and also attended an ice camp in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Her double life continued in 2007 -- winning two relay gold medals at the senior world inline championships and joining the Wheels on Ice developmental program in Salt Lake City. She also graduated from High Point Central in '07.

"The hardest part was adjusting to the 'clap' frame (that holds the blade on long-track speed skates). It's different to find your balance," Richardson said. "What's been easiest is skating the corners, because it's kind of the same (as on inlines)."

Shimabukuro calls her technique "unorthodox," but said any flaws Richardson displays can be corrected. "We just keep drilling those simple, basic fundamentals, and every year I expect her to get better and better," he added.

The coach said her strengths include a "snappy" cadence in her strokes and a "very, very aggressive push" with her left leg.

"She's got a lot of power to deliver to the ice," Shimabukuro said.

Richardson also has had to adjust to a more demanding racing schedule on the ice than what exists in skating on wheels. She's coming off three straight weekends of competition -- the World Sprints in Moscow and World Cup races in Kolumna, Russia, and Erfurt, Germany.

"What I learned is that you have to take it easy when you can, get rested, and try your best on the weekends," she said.

Richardson raced in World Cup B-division events in late 2007 before making her world championships debut in early '08 by finishing 25th at the World Sprints and 12th at the World Juniors. Last fall, she again was in the B-division, then had breakthrough races at the U.S. Sprints.

At Kolumna, she clocked personal-record times in the 500 and 1,000 meters. Of those two events, she likes the 1,000 better.

"In the 500, if you don't have that great opening 100 meters or you mess up one step, that one-tenth of a second can cost you a lot," she explained. "In the 1,000, I have better lap speed, which helps me a lot."

Richardson also has skated the 1,500 in competition a few times, but like most sprinters isn't inclined to do it often.

"I like it for training," she said. "It does help out your 1,000 a lot. Maybe once I get more endurance, I'll like that race more."

Richardson has skated on three continents now and says her favorite rink is the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee -- and not just because she won her national title there.

"I finally figured out how to skate that track, so I'm pretty confident there now," she said. "Some rinks, the corners are sharper and the straightaways are longer. In Milwaukee, I could never get my entry into the turns right. Now, I've finally learned how to set that up right."

Knowing that she's mastered Milwaukee could prove to be a boost for Richardson. Although US Speedskating and the U.S. Olympic Committee haven't announced the team selection process, it's possible that the initial round of Olympic team qualifying races will be held at Pettit, probably in October.

"We're staying focused on the technical things," Shimabukuro said, "and if she does her skating the best she can, she's going to be a big threat."