Jordan Stolz, new kid on the block, leads Team USA
Jordan Stolz first broke onto the Olympic stage at the Olympic Trials for Beijing, where he not only qualified for the 500m and 1000m, but set a new track record in the 1000m. Though his Olympic debut left much to be desired, ending with a 13th-place finish in the 500m and a 14th-place finish in the 1000m, the 20-year-old phenom since has taken the speed skating world by storm.
Following his breakout season in 2022, the then-18-year-old Stolz became the youngest skater to win a world title in a single distance at the 2023 World Single Distances Championships with his win in the 500m. He then went on to take gold in the 1000m and 1500m, becoming the first man to earn three titles at a single World Championships — a feat he repeated at the event’s 2024 edition, where he also set the national and track records in the 500m, as well as the track record in the 1000m.
Further solidifying his role as a sprint sensation, Stolz capped off a year-long, record-breaking 18-race World Cup win streak by snapping world leads in the 500m — where he became the first man to break 34 seconds — the 1000m and the 1500m, which he held previously — on his home oval in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the 2025 Speed Skating World Cup. Also during the 2025 season, Stolz raced his way back to the world championships podium, earning silver in the 500m and 1500m and bronze in the 1000m.
Should he continue on this commanding trajectory, Stolz could become the first Olympian since Canada’s Cindy Klassen in 2006 (and the first American since Eric Heiden in 1980) to win multiple speed skating medals at a single Winter Games.