Jordan Stolz is golden again.
The 21-year-old speedskating phenom from Kewaskum captured his second gold medal of the Milan Cortina Olympics, winning the 500 meters on Saturday morning (Saturday evening in Milan) while setting another Olympic record in the process.
Stolz became the first U.S. male speedskater to win two gold medals in a single Olympics since Madison native Eric Heiden, who watched Stolz’s stellar performance from the stands at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium, won an unprecedented five gold medals at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.
Stolz captured the gold and set an Olympic record in winning the 1,000-meter race on Wednesday.
He is scheduled to skate in two more races in these Olympic Games, the 1,500 meters and mass start.
The 500 meters was expected to be Stolz’s biggest challenge. The short distance leaves no room for error, and Stolz skated a perfect race, by all accounts, pumping his right fist in the air after crossing the line.
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Stolz was again paired with his top rival, Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands, who took silver in the 500, just as he did in the 1,000 meters. Veteran Canadian skater Laurent Dubreuil set the early pace with an Olympic-record performance of his own.
The 33-year-old Dubreuil won bronze in both 500-meter races at the International Skating Union World Cup held at the Petitt National Ice Center in January 2025. Dubreuil said at that time that competing against Stolz is often an effort in futility.
“The hope is to catch [Stolz] on a bad race, and then you have your best race,” Dubreuil said at the time. “My goal is to do the best I can. Hopefully, I get to beat him at some point but if it never happens again and I have good races, I’ll be fine with that. I’ve still had a very good career but I’m lucky I was born 10 years before him.”
Dubreuil skated an incredible race on Saturday as part of one of the earlier pairs, but Stolz was better, winning gold with a time of 33.77, ahead of de Boo at 33.88 and Dubreuil at 34.26.
Stolz had to wait out two more pairs before securing the gold medal. He flashed a smile as his 75-year-old coach Bob Corby patted his shoulders when Stolz’s victory became official. Stolz then wrapped himself in an American flag and took a victory lap.
The last U.S. male gold medalist in the 500 meters was Joey Cheek, who won at the 2006 Torino Games. Cheek served as color commentator on NBC’s television broadcast of Stolz’s race on Saturday.
Speedskating royalty was in the house in Milan, including Heiden, Bonnie Blair-Cruikshank and West Allis native Dan Jansen. Gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles and U.S. Olympic hockey star Hillary Knight, a five-time Olympian, were also part of a boisterous crowd that witnessed Stolz’s exhilarating performance.
Stolz will next race in the 1,500 meters at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday.
