Teenage speedskating phenom Jordan Stolz’s performance on the oval has reached epic levels.
The Kewaskum native completed one of the most dominant seasons in speedskating history with a world-record performance in winning the sport’s most storied event, the allround, which concluded on Sunday in Inzell, Germany.
Stolz, who is 19, became the youngest male to win the world allround title since fellow Wisconsinite and Olympic legend Eric Heiden, a native of Madison, captured the second of his three consecutive titles in 1978.
WORLD RECORD & WORLD CHAMP 🇺🇸🥇
19-year-old Jordan Stolz is the 2024 world men’s allround champion! #WorldSpeed pic.twitter.com/ym5xxjy3DH
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) March 10, 2024
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Known for his usually stoic demeanor on the ice, Stolz smiled broadly as he skated a victory lap on the oval at the Max Aicher Arena while hoisting an American flag above his head.
Stolz is the first American to win the title since Shani Davis and did so with the highest points total ever – 144.740 – for the event, which traces its history to 1893.
Stolz began Sunday with a track record in the 1,500 meters and then skated a personal best in the 10,000 meters. The allround crown goes to the best skater in sprinting (500 meters), middle distance (1,500 meters) and long distances (5,000 meters and 10,000 meters).
Stolz is only the fifth American to win the title, joining Heiden (1977, 1978 and 1979), Eric Flaim (1988), Chad Hedrick (2004) and Davis (2005 and 2006).
Stolz’s title-winning performance in the allround is even more astounding given that he mainly competes in sprints (he has the second-fastest time ever at 500 meters and holds the 1,000-meter world record) and rarely skates a distance longer than 1,500 meters.
Here’s a synopsis of Stolz’s amazing season:
- Broke his first world record (1,000 meters)
- Skated fastest time in history at sea level (1,500 meters)
- Swept the 500-meter, 1,000-meter and 1,500-meter events at the world championships in February for a second consecutive year
- World allround title
Stolz began attracting serious attention when he earned a spot on the Team USA speedskating team after winning the 500-meter and 1,000-meter races at the U.S. Olympic Long Track Trials at the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee in January 2022. Stolz, 17 at the time, set Pettit Center track records in each event and established himself as a potential medal contender in what would be his Olympic debut in Beijing.
But things didn’t go quite as Stolz had hoped as he finished in 13th place finish in the 500 meters and a 14th in the 1,000 meters.
With his first Olympic experience behind him, Stolz, who will turn 20 in May, has continued his meteoric rise in the sport. In February 2023, he became the youngest male, at age 18, ever to win an individual World Cup speedskating race.
If Stolz, who has trained at the Pettit Center, continues to dominate on the ice at the level, he’ll certainly be a heavy medal favorite at the next Winter Olympics, which will be held in February 2026 in Milan and Cortina, Italy.
With Stolz’s amazing accomplishments this season, he continues to draw comparisons to Heiden, who dominated the sport for years and won an unprecedented five individual gold medals and set four Olympic records and one world record at the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York, and remains a legend in the sport to this day.
