Six Wisconsin athletes are set to join the 232-member U.S. Olympic team that will compete in the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that kick off later this week. Three Milwaukee area natives are part of that group, headlined by Jordan Stolz of Kewaskum, the world’s most dominant speedskater and a medal favorite in four events.
Joining Stolz on the U.S. Olympic team are Pewaukee bobsledder Jadin O’Brien, Brookfield luger Marcus Mueller, Nordic combined athlete Ben Loomis of Eau Claire and biathletes Deedra Irwin of Pulaksi and Paul Schommer of Appleton.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Jordan Stolz (Kewaskum) / Speedskating
Stolz’ prowess on speedskating ovals around the world has been well documented, and he has a strong chance of winning multiple gold medals at the Games. He competed in the U.S. Olympic Long Track Speedskating Trials at the Pettit National Ice Center in early January, where he has trained since he was a youngster.
The trials turned out to be a mere formality for the 21-year-old phenom, 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. At the speedskating oval in Milan, he’s expected to once again showcase his supreme talent: a rare combination of speed and endurance.
After debuting at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing at just 17, Stolz continued his meteoric rise to become one of the world’s best speed skaters, compiling an unprecedented streak of World Cup wins. The rise to stardom evokes comparisons to Eric Heiden, a five-time gold medalist in the 1980 Winter Games and Madison native who many consider to be the greatest speedskater ever.
“I’m happy I’m going to Milan, obviously,” Stolz said on the final day of the Olympic Trials last month. “I have really good chances at the Olympics.”
Jadin O’Brien (Pewaukee) / Bobsled
Last summer, feeling burned out after completing a grueling final season of track and field at the University of Notre Dame, Pewaukee native Jadin O’Brien decided she needed a change and accepted an invitation to try out for the U.S. Bobsled team.
O’Brien’s stellar performance in the heptathlon and pentathlon at Notre Dame attracted the attention of Elena Meyers Taylor, who has made the U.S. Olympic Bobsled team for the fifth time, having medaled in all four of her previous Olympic appearances.
O’Brien initially turned down Meyers Taylor’s invitation to push the two-person sled that she pilots, but a change of heart put the 2020 graduate of Divine Savior Holy Angels High School in Milwaukee on a quick path to becoming an Olympian after she turned heads with her pre-season training and performance to earn a coveted spot on the team.
“I’m honored, ecstatic and so grateful and excited,” O’Brien says from Austria, where she’s doing some tune-up training before heading to the Olympics. “It’s hard to wrap my head around it fully still.”
O’Brien’s pairing with Myers Taylor gives her a legitimate shot at an Olympic medal.
“We have what it takes to medal. Alana knows that. I know that,” said O’Brien, who expects to have several family members cheering her on in person at the Games.
Marcus Mueller (Brookfield) / Doubles Luge
Brookfield native Marcus Mueller’s introduction to the sport of luge, a high-speed winter sliding sport where athletes ride a small, flat sled down an ice track while lying face-up and feet-first while reaching speeds of up to 90 mph, occurred at age 11 when USA Luge Slider Search, an athlete recruitment tour, came to Wisconsin searching for future competitors.
“I got to try it out. I did it on wheels the first time,” Mueller says in a recent interview from Winterberg, Germany, where he’s training before heading to the Milan Cortina Winter Games where he will compete in doubles luge. “The coaches had us go through a tryout, weaving through cones, doing a couple different maneuvers.”
Mueller did so well that he earned an invitation to Lake Placid, New York, the scenic village in the Adirondack Mountains that hosted the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics, where he got to try out luge on ice.
The now 20-year-old Mueller is headed to the Winter Olympics with partner Ansel Haugsjaa, a 21-year-old from Framingham, Massachusetts.
“It’s been a dream ever since I’ve been a kid to go to the Olympics and represent Team USA,” Mueller says. “Really, there’s no words that can explain it. It’s just such a privilege. It never really hit me until a few years ago that we could go to the Olympics and possibly win a medal.”
Mueller and Haugsjaa first knew they were headed to the Winter Olympics after earning their first World Cup gold medal in Lake Placid in December. Their spots on Team USA became official at a subsequent World Cup event in January.
The pair have aspirations of winning a medal. Despite their young age, they have been sliding like veterans and have two podium appearances, including the win at the Lake Placid World Cup. They are no strangers to the luge track at Cortina and already have found success there, earning a silver medal during a test event there in November.
Mueller said his parents, brother and girlfriend are making to the trip to Italy to watch him compete.
Ben Loomis (Eau Claire) / Nordic Combined
Eau Claire native Ben Loomis has made his third Olympic team competing in one of the more unusual and challenging of the Winter Olympics sports. As a competitor in Nordic combined, he needs to perform at a high level in two disparate winter disciplines – cross country skiing and ski jumping.
Loomis, 27, is a longtime fixture of the U.S. Nordic combined scene and has been on the national team for a decade.
“It’s a huge honor to be three-time Olympian. They’re all special in their own way,” Loomis says in an interview from Seefeld, Austria, where he competed in World Cup competition immediately before making the drive to neighboring Italy for the Olympic Games. “I definitely have some experience under my belt, so I’m looking to use that to my advantage going into these Olympics.”
Loomis’ path to becoming a Nordic combined athlete began very early in life, following the rest of his family into cross country skiing. Then, his brother Adam began eyeing the ski jumps in Eau Claire – and Loomis followed that, too.
It may come as a surprise to many outside the area, but Eau Claire has long been a premier hub for ski jumping, anchored by the historic Mt. Washington and the 90-meter Silver Mine ski jumps, managed by the Flying Eagles Ski Club, which dates back to 1933.
“Of course, the ski jumps that you start on as a kid are only about a foot tall, and you’re only going a few meters off those first ski jumps, but over time, you gradually work your way all the way up to the Olympic-size ski jumps,” Loomis says.
Loomis remained in Eau Claire until age 15, when he moved to Park City, Utah. There, he attended a high school for winter sports athletes, where the academic year runs from April to November. That gave him the winters off from classes to travel and compete. “That’s when I really started taking Nordic combined seriously,” he explains.
Loomis heads into what he said will be his final Olympics without any concrete expectations.
“It’s a similar pool of athletes that I’m used to competing against every weekend throughout the winter World Cup season, so I know anyone can go out and have a really good day. It’s kind of is up for grabs,” he says. “If that means a medal, or if it means 10th, 15th or 20th place, as long as I can go out and have a good day for myself, then I’ll be happy.”
Loomis said he’s especially pleased that a group of extended family members are traveling to Italy to cheer him on in his Olympics swan song.
As for what’s in store after his competitive career comes to close, Loomis said he expects to be involved in the sport in same manner. “Nordic combined has been my life for the last 10-plus years, so I think it will remain a part of my life for the future, too,” he says.
Deedra Irwin (Pulaski) and Paul Schommer (Appleton) / Biathlon
Irwin, 33, will compete in her second Olympics. Her seventh-place finish in Beijing was the best finish ever for an American in an individual biathlon event at the Olympics, a performance that left her in tears.
Irwin didn’t start competing in biathlon until age 25 after attending a U.S. Biathlon talent camp. She joined the Vermont Army National Guard in 2019 and since 2022 has been a member of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program, which offers all Army members the chance to compete in an Olympic sport.
“Finding perspective in the last week before the big show. I’m grateful, humbled, excited, nervous, tired, hungry… and overall blessed,” Irwin posted on Instagram as she prepared to compete in the Milan Cortina Olympic Games.
Schommer, 33, has been a member of the U.S. biathlon team since 2017 and will also compete in a second Olympics after making the squad for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2022, where he was part of a U.S. team that finished seventh in the mixed relay. Schommer picked up cross-country skiing after his brother, Phillip, started a cross-country club at their high school. He went on to become and All-American skier at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota.
