CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — At 26, short track speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno is a grizzled veteran in his sport.

But the five-time Olympic medalist isn't showing any signs of slowing down.

"I'm still blessed to have a gift to be able to skate fast and skate strong," Ohno said Wednesday before the start of the U.S. Short Track Championships, which is Thursday through Sunday at the Hardee's Iceplex in suburban St. Louis.

Ohno, a native of Seattle, has plenty of motivation to keep him going. The 2010 Winter Olympics are in Vancouver.

"That's so close to my hometown," said Ohno, who would not say whether 2010 would be his last Olympics.

The event here is the first step on a long road to the 2010 Winter Games. The top five finishers in each event at the U.S. Short Track Championships will qualify for the U.S. team that will skate in the 2009 World Cup matches and the 2009 World Championship.

Time trials are Thursday and Friday, with the men's and women's 1,500-meter event also on Friday. The 500-meter events are Saturday, and the 1,000- and 3,000-meter races are Sunday.

All of the country's top short track skaters are expected, including Jeffrey Simon, a silver medalist at the 2007 World Junior Championships, former national champion and Olympian Allison Baver, and former junior world champion Katherine Reutter, a native of Champaign, Ill., who said she is eager to skate in front of friends and family.

"The ice is very different from Salt Lake, but it's a very fine facility," she said. "I've trained in St. Louis a long time and I like this rink. I think the ice, come Friday, Saturday and Sunday, is going to be fast, and there will be good racing on it.

"I feel like I have an advantage. There's no place I'd reather be."

Ohno is eager to see what some of the younger racers can do.

"It's an honor for me to be on the ice and to have guys look up and say, 'I want to keep up with this guy,'" Ohno said. "Hopefully I can lead our young team in Vancouver to a lot of medals. That's my goal."