MILAN — U.S. speedskating star Jordan Stolz won his first Olympic medal Wednesday, earning gold and setting an Olympic record in the 1,000-meter event.
Follow along for live coverage
He finished with a time of 1:06.28, shaving nearly a second off the previous best time. Stolz topped Jenning de Boo of The Netherlands and Zhongyan Ning of China, who took silver and bronze, respectively.
Stolz, widely considered the best skater in the world, competed in the 2022 Winter Olympics at 17 years old — the youngest male athlete on the team in Beijing — and finished 13th in the 500-meter and 14th in the 1,000-meter. But since then, he’s dominated the competition.
Stolz swept the 500-meter, 1,000-meter and 1,500-meter at world championships in 2023 and 2024 and was named the youngest male World Allround champion in 46 years. He set the world record in the 1,000-meter with a time of 1:05.37 in January 2024.
Stolz is also riding a 14-race unbeaten streak in the 1,000-meter on the World Cup-level.
He said his recent performances and training have him confident heading into the Games.
“The preparation has been going well and my body feels good,” he said last week. “There’s not much more I could ask for.”
In Milan, the Wisconsin native is expected to contend for gold in the 500-meter, 1000-meter and 1,500-meter and could also participate in the men’s mass start. If he wins at least three gold medals, he’ll join Eric Heiden as the only American in any sport, man or woman, to win that many at a single Winter Games.
The last American man to win gold in the 1,000-meter is Shani Davis, who claimed gold in back-to-back games in 2006 and 2010.
Stolz said he’s not worried about the extra pressure of the Winter Olympics.
“I try to deal with it as if it’s just another race, so everything else around you is just extra noise,” he said. “There’s more pressure on this one because you’ve been training for it for four years, but at the end of the day, it’s going to the line and competing like usual.”
NBC News Top Stories
About the Author
