RHO, Italy − He crushed it.
In the toughest test of his young 21-year-old life, Kewaskum speed skater Jordan Stolz raced the 500 meters to a time of 33.77 seconds on Saturday, Feb. 14 to seize his second Olympic record of these 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games.
The 500 on Saturday was a thrill.
Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands gave Stolz the all-time run for his money in the 1,000 earlier in the week when Stolz had to find a fifth gear to come from behind and win.
And de Boo once again, paired with Stolz, pushed for the gold. He finished second at 33.88.
“It feels amazing two days later to do it at a distance that’s a much closer margin,” Stolz said after the 500 on the NBC broadcast, “and I just can’t believe having two, and now I still have a chance at another one. But I’m super-thankful to have two golds.”
This 500 field was packed.
De Boo, Damian Zurek of Poland and Kim Jun-Ho of South Korea are skaters who have beaten Stolz in 500-meter World Cup races this season.
Last year, Tatsuya Shinhama of Japan got gold at the Milwaukee World Cup’s second 500-meter sprint, besting Stolz, who took silver. That broke Stolz’s 18-gold streak in the World Cup season.
Stolz went into the 1,000 undefeated in the distance all season, but he had challengers in the 500. Stolz had won five out of the nine 500 World Cup races this season.
But Stolz had a few aces in his hand that don’t get talked about much.
First, he set the sea-level track record in the 500 at the Pettit National Ice Center 13 months ago in Milwaukee. It was the first ISU World Cup stop in Milwaukee in 20 years, and Stolz showed all his international friends (and doubters) that the ice in Milwaukee could be blazing fast. While official world records only recognize the fastest times anywhere, ever, the long track skating world definitely follows the fastest men on ice at sea level.
Stolz skated a 33.91 in Milwaukee.
The Milano Speed Skating Stadium in Rho, a suburb of Milan, is at sea level.
The second ace was this: Stolz had skated a sub-34-second 500-meter race three times within the last calendar year, and twice within recent months.
“I did it in Hereenveen – and I actually beat the Milwaukee time,” Stolz told the Journal Sentinel a month ago. “And that was really cool because Jenning de Boo actually had the track record there. And the next weekend, I had an even better race in the 500 in Hamar – which is slower than Hereenveen – it was still under 34 seconds.”
Those wicked-fast times do more than just set the world on notice.
It’s a huge confidence boost. Why? Because Stolz is the rare man who skates multiple distances – unlike any of his peers. That’s really hard, and almost unheard of. To be a medal favorite in the 1,500 as well as the 500 requires generational talent, which Stolz has. But there’s more.
The third ace is Stolz’s offseason and in-season training. It’s grueling and intense, from running the ski hill by his house in the low skater position with his coach watching, to lonely, 5-hour bike rides from his countryside home. Stolz has trained in mountains all over the world in the summer on his bike to condition his body, improve his VO2 Max numbers and push his limits to the point that extreme exertion and top recovery became routine.
And Stolz and de Boo put on thrilling 1,000-meter races three days ago. They both needed to recover from incredible times.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Jordan Stolz sets Olympic record to win gold in the 500-meter speed-skating event
Reporting by Lori Nickel, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
