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≡ MEET MR. & MRS. STOLZ ≡
The road to the Olympics isn’t just for athletes. Their parents often come along for the ride, and just like their globe-trotting kids they must adapt to adversity.
While Jane and Dirk Stolz were caught in a nearly 24-hour delay at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport due to mechanical issues Tuesday night, they had one pleasant surprise.
Walking down the concourse, they noticed a car advertisement playing at every gate. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. I’ve got to get a selfie with this,’” Jane said. “Here’s my son on every single billboard.”
Their son is Jordan Stolz, who could become the first speedskater to win five gold medals since Eric Heiden in 1980. Jordan, 21, is a medal favorite in the 500 m, 1,000 m, 1,500 m and Mass Start and is a candidate to skate in one of the early rounds in team pursuit (skaters in the prelims earn any subsequent medal).
Dirk said the Olympics were in the back of his mind when he shoveled the snow off the frozen pond in their Kewaskum, Wisconsin backyard so Jordan, 5, and his sister Hannah, 7, could skate.
“It was a little bit of a goal to make an Olympic team,” Dirk said.
Jane was initially hesitant.
“I didn’t let them do that at first because I was afraid they would fall in,” Jane said. “It was spring then, so I had them wear life vests when they were on there.”
They wore old hockey skates on a straightaway, but then Dirk used his all-terrain vehicle to make an oval.
Jane said Jordan told the kids at school, “I’m going to the Olympics.'”
For better ice, they made the drive to the Pettit Ice Center in a West Allis. That could take anywhere from 50 to 75 minutes.
One day an announcer at the center asked Jordan if he wanted to be a national champion.
Jordan replied, “What’s that?” The announcer said it was the fastest skater in the country.
“He’s like, ‘Yeah,’ and they high-fived,” Jane said. “Dirk and I were skating behind him and we looked at him kind of chuckling and he turned around and said, ‘I’m not kidding. Your kids are really good and they’re really determined. They never get tired and they don’t complain. It’s going to take time and it’s going to take money.’ We’re like, “OK, that’s what we would like if they want to do it.'”
Jordan won his first national title at age 9 and quickly progressed through the ranks.
“He’s got an uncanny feel for the ice,” Jane said. “He can feel what it’s doing and what his feet need to do to get what he needs to go out of it.”
He grew up hunting and fishing, but never ventured into the traditional ball sports like baseball, basketball or soccer. At age 14, he took up cycling and hopes to be a professional cyclist, with that sport and speedskating sharing similar qualities.
Hannah, who will arrive in Milan before Jordan competes, left the sport at age 16 to pursue her passion in avian taxidermy.
Because Jordan enjoyed pack skating, he originally competed in both Short Track and long-track speedskating. At the Short Track trials for the 2020 Youth Olympic Games, Jordan crashed, going up in the air and landing on his knees. He couldn’t race the rest of the weekend and from that point concentrated solely on long track. At the Youth Olympics in Lausanne, he finishing fifth in the 500 m at age 15.
Two years later, Jordan was making a name for himself as the next U.S. speedskating phenom, skating an impressive 34.99 in the 500 at age 16.
“That was a big eye-opener,” Jane said.
He made the Olympic team in 2022 and was considered a medal contender.
But with the Beijing Winter Games taking place during Covid restrictions, Dirk and Jane could not go to China to support him.
“That was just a disaster,” Dirk said. “Very, very disappointing. Everybody’s working to try to make an Olympic team and we can’t even go.”
Jordan wound up 13th in the 500 m and 14th in the 1,000 m.
“I just figure without mom and dad there,” Dirk said, “by himself, 17 years old, nutrition was an issue over there, I kind of figured it was not going to go real well.”
Jordan, who is fueled by moose burritos, Alaskan salmon, halibut and steak, did not thrive on the meals in the Beijing Olympic Village, even sending a photo of a duck head to his parents.
So far he hasn’t had much to report about the food in Milan, but his parents are bringing him a humidifier. Jane keeps tabs on his skating blades with a tracking app. It is usually used for pets so the blades look like cat heads on her phone.
Jane and Dirk, who now spend half the year in Alaska, are as unflappable as their son when approaching the competition.
“People are like, ‘Aren’t you so excited?'” Jane said. “I said, ‘I suppose when we get there and we see all the Olympic stuff we’ll be excited. Right now I feel like we’re just going to the World Cup. We just got back from Germany. Two weeks before that we were in the Netherlands. I feel like we’re going to one in Italy now.”
While Jordan is garnering more and more attention in the U.S. due to NBC’s promotions, he is already a superstar in the Netherlands, where speedskating is one of the top sports.
“Everybody sees Jordan’s face on their news every night, and then us sometimes,” Jane said.
She was sitting in a Dutch coffee shop “all tired and scruffy looking” after a flight and a woman approached her. Jane thought she needed help with her luggage, but the woman said, “Are you Jordan’s mom?”
He’s also popular in Japan and spent a month training there. A Japanese film crew came to Wisconsin and asked to see the pond.
“The ice started making noises,” Jane said. “Guys were running in every direction and I was running away from them. They didn’t go back on the ice after that.”
Jordan hasn’t skated on the pond in four years because it would ruin his blades, but he fishes from a boat or the bank.
Now he’s on the world’s biggest ice.
Because Jordan has raced in front of more than 10,000 fans in the Netherlands, he is used to a large crowd.
“To him, it’s just another race,” Dirk said. “He’s been doing it forever. The only thing that really changes is the scenery and the big drama about it.“
Jordan also handles media with aplomb. Before Beijing, NBC spent nine hours at their house and Jordan explained how he wanted to influence the next generation of skaters.
“I’m thinking, ‘the next generation? You’re 17. You act like you’re 30,” Jane said. “His answers were so mature and so thoughtful, I was so proud.”
After the setback in Beijing, Jordan took the skating world by storm with world titles in the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 m. He was recovering from pneumonia when he took home three medals at the 2025 Worlds and this year has dominated the World Cup with 16 wins. He is the world-record holder in the 1,000 and also holds American records in the 500 and 1,500.
Dirk, who retired as a deputy sheriff, has attended every World Cup this season, while Jane, who retired from her job as a dental hygienist, just missed one in November. Jane films all of Jordan’s races, which allows her to zoom in and see what she can’t with the naked eye. Jordan then asks for her phone so he can watch his performance.
After the Olympics, they will go back to the Netherlands where Jordan will attempt to win the world All-Round title, which means he will skate all distances including the 10,000 m.
Back in 1980, Heiden won every Olympic event from the 500 to the 10,000 m and Jordan often texts with him.
If Jordan matches his medal haul, Jane said might show some uncharacteristic emotion, “I’d probably cry on that one,” she said. “People say, ‘Oh you guys never scream and yell.’ I’m like, ‘Well, inside we’re happy.'”
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