MILAN, Italy — For Jordan Stolz, it’s one down and three to go.
The American speed skating phenom won the gold medal in the men’s 1,000 meters Wednesday, Feb. 11, officially starting his quest for four golds at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
In his first race at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium, Stolz set a new Olympic record with a time of 1:06.28 to go along with the world record he already owned (1:05.37), while racing in front of Snoop Dogg and speed skating legend Eric Heiden.
“Yeah, it’s really cool that I was able to win in front of both of them, I guess,’’ Stolz said. “I’m sure they were enjoying it. I definitely didn’t disappoint them.’’
Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands took silver with a time 1:06.78, and Zhongyan Ning earned bronze in 1:07.34.
To collect four golds, Stolze, the 21-year-old from Wisconsin, will need to win each of his remaining races: the 500 meters on Saturday, Feb. 14, 1,500 meters on Feb. 19 and the mass start on Feb. 21.
“There’s a little less pressure now that I’ve got one gold medal,’’ he said, later adding, “The pressure was kind of rising towards this one. I could definitely feel it.’’
The achievement would elevate him to legendary status possessed by Heiden, the U.S. speed skater who in 1980 became the only athlete to win five gold medals in a single Winter Olympics.
“That would be a little bit crazy, super historical,’’ Stolz said. “I don’t know if it’s going to happen, right? It’s hard enough to get one gold medal.
“But one is huge.’’
The sound of Stolz on ice
Stolz raced against Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands, and 600 meters into race Stolz trained de Boo by 0.4 seconds.
“I had high hopes but his last lap it just incredible and I heard him coming at 800 meters,’’ De Boo said. “And then I just knew it was too late.’’
“You hear his skates coming and it’s pretty creepy. It’s as creepy and of course I’m getting used to it now. …That feeling when you know he’s coming, it’s not a nice feeling, of course.’’
De Boo had to settle for the silver medal.
Stil, Stolz acknowledged being nervous with 400 meters left to go in the race and de Boo leading.
“I knew I’d have to have a really good last lap,’’ he said. “I thought about it before the race …that I’d have to try to catch him over the last lap. I threw two arms down just because I really didn’t want to lose.’’
Waiting, and waiting some more
The crowd seemed gripped by the clock as it counted down 15 minutes. That’s how much time waited until a reskate by Dutch skater Joep Wennemars, who nearly fell when he was obstructed by his paired opponent in his first run.
The officials granted Wennemars a solo reskate, and he came back on the ice roughly 15 minutes after all the scheduled pairs had race.
Wennemars won the world championship in the 1,000 last year. But Stolz indicated he was far less nervous about the reskate than he was anxious to take a celebratory lap around the rink while holding the flag.
Stolz said he knew it would be hard to reskate 30 minutes after skating 1,000 meters. Sure enough, Wennemars failed to improve on his initial time, and then it was official. The gold belonged to Stolz.
“It’s pretty unlucky what happened to him,’’ Stolz said of Wennemars. “I wouldn’t want to have that to anybody…’’
What seems to have been more agonizing was the four years Stolz had to wait since his Olympic debut to get another shot at medaling, starting in the 1,000.
“It’s one thing to win all of them in the World Cup,’’ he said. “To finally have it right to do it in the Olympics, that’s something that takes a lot of planning and I think I did it well.’’
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When does Jordan Stolz compete at Olympics?
Stolz will do four individual races at the Olympics: the 500 meters, the 1,000 meters, the 1,500 meters and the mass start. All begin at night in Italy, meaning he’ll be racing live when it’s daytime in the United States.
The 1,000 meters begins at 12:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Feb. 11.
The 500 meters begins at 11 a.m. ET on Saturday, Feb. 14.
The 1,500 meters begins at 10:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, Feb. 19.
The mass start is on Saturday, Feb. 21, with the semifinals at 9 a.m. ET and the finals at 10:40 a.m. ET.
Will Jordan Stolz be a medal favorite?
Stolz has dominated speed skating over the last three seasons. He won the 500-, 1,000- and 1,500-meter titles at the world championships in 2023 and 2024, and claimed the season titles in all three distances last year.
This year he’s unbeaten in the 1,000 and 1,500 meters in the World Cups, and has won five of the seven 500-meter races. He’s also made the podium twice in the mass start, including a win at the World Cup in Hamar, Norway, after not racing it in international competition the past two seasons.
Should Stolz win those four races in Milano Cortina, he would be second only to Eric Heiden for most medals at a single Winter Olympics. Heiden won a record five when he famously swept the speed skating events at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid.
Norwegian biathlon great Ole Einar Bjørndalen (2002) and Soviet speed skater Lidiya Skoblikova (1964) are the only athletes to win four golds at a single Winter Olympics.
