Kewaskum’s Jordan Stolz, the world’s most dominant speedskater, is officially an Olympian for the second time.
This time, however, the 21-year-old phenom will have gold-medal aspirations when he heads to the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics next month. Stolz earned spots in four events at the Winter Games following the U.S. Olympic Long Track Speedskating Trials that drew a boisterous crowd of around 1,700 spectators to the Pettit National Ice Center each day over a four-day stretch that concluded on Monday.
The trials turned out to be a mere formality for Stolz, as he had already prequalified for the Olympic Games in all three sprint distances (500 meters, 1,000 meters and 1,500 meters) and the mass start due to dominant performances this season, which included multiple World Championship and World Cup wins. While he met the U.S. Olympic selection criteria early, he still had to skate at the Olympic Trials to make it official.
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Coming off a dominating run over the past few months, Stolz’s weekend got off to a bit of a rough start. Battling a cold while maintaining an intense training schedule, Stolz fell at the start of the 1,000-meter race, his signature event, on Saturday, drawing audible gasps from the crowd that had waited all afternoon to watch him compete. Amazingly, Stolz managed to pull himself up and race to a third-place finish.
“I was feeling a little dehydrated going into it,” Stolz says. “I felt weird in my legs and got a little wide on one of my steps and toe picked. But I got up pretty quick and kept going.”
Stolz rebounded on Sunday when he captured first in the 500-meter race with a time of 34.76, well off his personal best of 33.69. He then decided to take the starting line but immediately bowed out of the 1,500-meter race that followed an hour later after saying he felt fatigued.
On Monday, Stolz opted not to compete in the second 500-meter race, but he did take to the ice for a pair of mass start races, finishing second in one while breaking away from the pack to win the other, finishing the trials on a high note.
“I’m happy I’m going to Milan,” Stolz said afterward. “This weekend there were some ups and downs but overall, I think I’m in a good spot. It was just tough training for two weeks and getting a little cold two days before (the trials) just kind of messed up my recovery. I wish I could have done the 1,500 but at the moment it wasn’t the correct thing to do.”
Wisconsin’s place in speed skating history isn’t lost on Stolz. He’s quick to note that legends and Olympic gold medalists such as Eric Heiden, Bonnie Blair-Cruikshank and Dan Jansen also trained at the Pettit Center, as did Shani Davis, who coached Stolz for a year. Stolz and Davis have maintained a friendship since.
Stolz was the main draw of the Olympic trials and he’s expected to be one of the main faces of the Milan Cortina Olympics, but the big crowds got to see a slew of impressive performances throughout the event, which featured several local skaters vying for spots to represent the United States in the Winter Games. About 70 skaters competed for what turned out to be six spots for women and seven spots for men on the Olympic team.
The Pettit Center also hosted the trials in 2022, but the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic forced organizers to ban all spectators and media due to high infection rates in the area and early positive tests among skaters. It was very different this time around, with cheering crowds egging the Olympic hopefuls on.
The Other Speedskaters at the Trials
Taking part in the Olympic Trials at the Pettit Center was special for Jonathan Tobon, who competed in four races.
“It means a lot,” the 22-year-old Tobon says. “This being my hometown, it brings me a lot of pride to skate the trials for the second time here in Milwaukee and to really show my family and friends what this sport means to me and what it means to other skaters in this country.”
Other local skaters also competed in the trials, including Nashota’s Piper Yde, 20, who had about 30 family members and friends in the stands cheering her on.
“I was really happy to skate in front of my family, since we didn’t get to do that four years ago,” she says. “The experience was more than what I could have asked for. I just wanted to have fun, getting a chance to skate in front of my family in friends and soaking it all in.”
Delafield’s Blair Cruikshank, daughter of legendary speedskater and five-time Olympic gold medalist Bonnie Blair-Cruikshank, competed in the 500- and 1,000-meter races. She said she felt the energy from the crowd.
“To have this experience to be here at home is awesome,” she says. “I’m so happy that it’s in our backyard.”
Cruikshank, 25, said she spoke about the crowd with McKenzie Brown, with whom she was paired in the 1,000 meters on Saturday. “(The crowd) helps a ton,” Cruikshank explains. “I told her that the crowd is here to push us. They’re going to give us a bump. I’m thankful that they’re here and came out.”
Who’s Going to the Speedskating Olympics?
Erin Jackson, the reigning gold medalist in the women’s 500 meters and who clocked the fastest time in the event on Sunday, a day after winning the 1,000 meters earlier, had high praise for the Pettit Center fans.
“The crowd was amazing as always,” says Jackson, a native of Ocala, Florida, who will be heading to her third Olympic Games. “I love racing here at the Pettit. The energy in here is always awesome.”
Floridian Mia Manganello, who earned a trip to a third and final Winter Olympics, spoke glowingly of the Pettit Center atmosphere. “It’s always amazing skating here in Milwaukee,” she says. “They have the best crowds in our country and to have my last Olympic trials here is really an amazing experience.”
Manganello, 36, became tearful when speaking of the experience that will send her to another Olympics. “It’s the ultimate dream. It’s the ultimate goal in life as an athlete,” she says. “To have the chance to do it three time is something I’ll never take for granted.”
Chicago native Sarah Warren, 29, secured a spot on her first Olympics team in the 500 meters on Monday in the race’s final pairing. Warren, who has endured nine knee surgeries and an ankle surgery, pumped her fists as she crossed the finish line and immediately skated toward the crowd to embrace her family members.
“You envision that moment your whole career and it’s pretty surreal,” Warren says. “My imagery before the race was hugging my family after. In that moment, you realize all the sacrifices you made, and it was worth it. I got to live out my dream. It was a very stressful weekend. It took years off my life.”
Two-time Olympic gold medalist and multiple-time World Champion Davis, who now serves as a coach, credited the crowds at the Pettit Center for boosting the skaters throughout the trials.
“I used to train here. I love seeing skating in Milwaukee,” the Chicago native says. “I even came out here and skated when I was a little boy and the rink wasn’t even covered. I just like that it’s a traditional place. A lot of people show up and support the locals but they cheer for everyone else like they’re one of their own, too.”
Among the other skaters drawing the loudest cheers from the crowd was Brittany Bowe, who qualified for her fourth Olympic Games, securing spots in the 1,000 meters, 1,500 meters and team pursuit. Bowe previously announced that this will be her final Olympic Games.
Skaters also had high praise for the ice conditions at the Pettit Center for the trials.
“It was amazing. I love skating in Milwaukee,” says Cooper McCleod, who took second in the 1,000 meters and earned a spot on his first Olympic team. “The ice here is one of, if not the best, in the world. It always feels fantastic and the ice crew here does an amazing job getting everything to be pristine every time we’re here. Everybody, universally across the globe, agrees with that after having the World Cup here last year.”
Paul Golomski, the mastermind behind the ice conditions at the Pettit Center, had a cheering section of his own during the trials that consisted of his wife, Ashley, and son, Benjamin, who held up a sign with the words “My Dad is the Icemeister.”
These are the 13 skaters who will make up the U.S. long track speedskating squad:
Women: Brittany Bowe, Giorgia Birkeland, Erin Jackson, Mia Manganello, Greta Mayers and Sarah Warren.
Men: Jordan Stolz, Ethan Cepuran, Casey Dawson, Emery Lehman, Conor McDermott-Mastowy, Cooper McLeod and Zach Stoppelmoor.
Stolz Is Still a Fan Favorite
The women’s and men’s squads feature several skaters with chances to win medals at the Winter Games. But there’s no doubt that Stolz will draw the most attention in the Milan Cortina Games, with medals in four events a strong possibility.
“He just has something in him deep down inside. He just wants to win. He’s a fighter,” Davis says. “He’s in the right moment to go over there and do some great things.”
At age 21, it’s conceivable that Stolz, despite all of his success to this point, still hasn’t reached his prime.
Stolz’s rise to stardom evokes comparisons to Heiden, a Madison native and five-time gold medalist in the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York, and who many consider to be the greatest speedskater ever.
Heiden offers friendly words of advice from time to time, according to Stolz. “Nothing too huge,” he says. “I just think he really likes what I’m doing on the ice.”
On and off the ice, Stolz relies on Bob Corby, his 75-year-old coach and physical therapist.
“He’s meant a lot,” Stolz says. “When I first started growing, he gave me this program that I really enjoyed. It was totally different than what I had been doing and I just got so strong from it. In my opinion, he’s a super good coach.”
Corby says Stolz took a considerable leap when he began a sophisticated summer program of weights, hills, biking and skating exercises. “That was when he was 15. He really took off,” Corby says. “That was a big change. He was good enough at that point that we could start thinking about the Olympic team as a 17-year-old.”
Stolz did indeed make the Olympic team for the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, where he finished 13th in the 500 meters and 14th in the 1,000 meters while dealing with seemingly unrealistic expectations given his young age.
After Beijing, Stolz continued his meteoric rise to become one of the world’s best speedskaters. Corby speaks repeatedly of the joy he has experienced in watching Stolz blossom into the world’s top speedskater.
“This is so much fun and so exciting,” he says.
As the trials wrapped up, Corby spoke of how important the four-day Olympic trials were for the Pettit Center, Milwaukee and the future of the sport. “It’s so wonderful to have this building and this ice surface featured on national television,” Corby says. “It’ll really help the sport and get kids involved.”
