In Milan, Jordan Stolz Became a Star. For French Alps 2030, He Will Work to Be a Legend

The 21-year-old won two golds to start the 2026 Winter Olympics but wasn’t satisfied with a silver and fourth-place finish in his final two events. The results could drive him to greatness.

Jordan Stolz finished fourth in the mass start to end his 2026 Winter Olympics. | Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

MILAN — Jordan Stolz exits these Olympic Games with two gold medals, one silver and a smile on his face. It was a great performance by the 21-year-old speedskater from Wisconsin. As of Saturday afternoon, he is the only American athlete at these Winter Games to win multiple gold medals and three individual medals. He set Olympic records in the two events he won, further cementing his status as the brightest star in his sport.

“It was pretty successful,” he said with a smile.

And yet, there was just enough left on the table that should keep him hungry for 2030.

Stolz was nipped by 0.77 seconds in the 1,500-meter race, preventing him from a gold medal hat trick in standard long-track events. And then there was the tactical oddity of the mass start race Saturday in which he finished fourth, missing the podium by .09. That was one to grow on.

Stolz’s preferred form of speedskating is a controlled competition—him against the clock, and against the times posted by other skaters. Just two men on the ice at the same time. Whatever race strategy comes into play is purely individual. 

In a mass start, group dynamics and pace play a major factor. This was not his comfort zone.

The 6,400-meter mass start Saturday was like a stage of the Tour de France. In cycling terms, the breakaway stole it on the front end, never letting the peloton catch up and scoring an upset. The Netherlands’ Jorrit Bergsma and Denmark’s Viktor Hald Thorup distanced themselves from the pack early, on the about 25% of the way through the 16-lap race. Their advantage kept growing, and nobody chased. 

Stolz was left in a conundrum. He kept an eye on the presumed race favorites—2022 Olympic mass start medalists Bart Swings of Belgium and Chung Jae-won of South Korea—and waited for them to make a move. As it turned out, there were no major moves until it was too late.

Stolz succumbed to the chaos of the mass start, barely missing out on the podium. | Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

“The guys in the back who were the gold medal favorites in the mass start were chasing for a little bit,” Stolz said. “And then they kind of expected me to continue chasing, and if I would’ve done that for the amount that they wanted me to, I would’ve had no legs at the end of the race.

“I actually didn’t expect this to happen just because I felt like the gold medal favorites were going to be more hungry to try and get a medal, but they all were just kind of expecting me to go for it and yeah, it didn’t really work.”

Stolz said in the latter stages of the race, it seemed like the pack “had settled for third place.” That realization came upon him with about five laps remaining. 

“It was kind of depressing, actually,” he said.

Then at the very end, the race for third place went to someone else. Italy’s Andrea Giovannini snuck past Stolz in the final meters for bronze, keeping him from a fourth medal by .09 seconds.

For now, Stolz is keeping his focus on the near term: the world championships in the Netherlands in March. That’s a more condensed competition than the Olympics, encompassing four days. Stolz said he will attempt both the sprints (500- and 1,000-meter races) on the first two days, and the all-around competition on the latter two, with four races spanning distances from 500 to 10,000 meters.

“Nobody’s ever done that before,” he said. “We’ll see if I can pull that off.”

Will Stolz’s ambitions grow similarly for 2030 in France? Eric Heiden, greatest of all American male speedskaters, told NBC Sports before the Games that he believes Stolz has the ability to match his legendary feat at Lake Placid 1980 —sweeping all five standard-start gold medals across every distance. 

It would require a huge physical and mental investment, but it seems feasible. Or at least attemptable. Especially for a guy who grew up thinking about breaking world records. It’s dangerous to compare anyone’s career arc to Michael Phelps’s, but it might apply here.

Stolz won gold in the 500-meter and 1,000-meter races for the first two medal of his career. | Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

In 2000, at age 15, Phelps made his first Olympics. He did not medal.

In 2022, at age 17, Stolz made his first Olympics. He did not medal.

In 2004, at age 19, Phelps won six gold medals and two bronze. He arrived as the best in the world in his sport.

In 2026, at age 21, Stolz won two gold and one silver, and similarly arrived.

In 2008, at age 23, Phelps authored his masterpiece: a record eight gold medals. 

Is Stolz ready to do something similar four years from now? If Stolz stays healthy, he should be approaching his athletic peak at age 25. Additional wisdom and experience would theoretically be accrued by then as well.

For now, though, his body of work in Milan is enough to be satisfied. He was Team USA’s most decorated athlete here. 

“I’ve had some great races here,” he said. “Some could have been better, but I think it’s actually a good result. I’ll continue to improve. Two golds and a silver, I mean, that’s pretty good.”

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