It’s three events and three medals for Kewaskum speedskater Jordan Stolz so far at the Winter Olympics.
The 21-year-old rising superstar captured a silver medal, to go along with two earlier golds, in the 1,500 meters on Thursday in front of a frenzied crowd at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium.
Stolz was trying to become the second U.S. speedskater ever to win three gold medals in a single Winter Olympics and just the second American to win three gold medals in any sport at one Winter Games.
The only other, Madison native Eric Heiden, won an unprecedented five golds at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, setting four Olympic records and one world record during those Games.
Stolz’s second-place performance in the 1,500 meters came after China’s Ning Zhongyan shattered the Olympic record to secure the gold medal. Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands, the two-time defending Olympic champion and world record holder at the distance, skated to the bronze medal.
Stolz remains the only individual U.S. speedskater, man or woman, to win a medal thus far in the Milan Cortina Games. The U.S. team of Ethan Cepuran, Casey Dawson and Marquette University graduate Emery Lehman captured a silver medal in the team pursuit competition for the country’s lone medal outside of Stolz’s two golds and one silver.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
On Thursday, Stolz took the ice in the final of 15 pairs, matched with Peder Kongshaug of Norway. He skated a strong last lap to edge Nuis for the silver but finished 0.77 seconds behind Zhongyan’s time of 1 minute, 41.98 seconds, which shaved nearly one-and-a-half seconds off the Olympic record to stun the speedskating world and allow him to win gold over Stolz, who many viewed as a heavy favorite to win the race.
Stolz had already won gold medals in the 1,000-meter and 500-meter races, setting Olympic records in both, entering Thursday’s competition.
Stolz’s performance in Milan continues his meteoric rise, all of which has taken shape since Stolz made the Olympic team for the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing as a 17-year-old. At the Beijing Games, he finished 13th in the 500 meters and 14th in the 1,000 meters while dealing with seemingly unrealistic expectations given his young age and the lingering effects of the COVID pandemic.
Stolz has one event remaining, the mass start, which takes place on Saturday, in his pursuit of a third gold medal. Stolz has called the event a “bonus” for him in the Olympics, due to the randomness that comes with the high-traffic race, which is 16-laps long and involves up to 24 skaters taking to the track simultaneously, rather than in pairs.
