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≡ THE ROSEN REPORT ≡
MILAN, Italy – “What’s Jordan Stolz going to do?”
That’s sure to be the question in speed skating for a long time, but on Saturday it referred only to the men’s Mass Start.
After two skaters broke away from the field in the 16-lap race, Stolz knew his competitors were depending on him to lead the chase. Nope. He’s too smart for that.
“We could have probably made that all back if we would have all attacked, but they were more so expecting me to do it,” Stolz said. “If I would have done that for the amount that they wanted me to, I would have had no legs at the end of the race.”
No one wanted to share the load, and five laps to go “they were all sitting on me,” Stolz said. “It was kind of depressing actually when it got to the point where it’s like everybody’s settling for third place.“
Only Andrea Giovannini of Italy, however, was third. Stolz, who eventually did take over and lead the sprint, finished fourth. Forty-year-old Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands and Viktor Hald Thorup of Denmark secured the gold and silver.
Stolz still leaves the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games as the most decorated U.S. athlete with two golds and a silver. He set Olympic records in the 1,000 and 500 m and it took an Olympic record to beat him in the 1,500 m.
Not bad for a couple of weeks in Milan. “I would say it’s pretty successful,” Stolz said. “There’s things that could have gone better, but two golds and a silver, I’m pretty happy with that.”
Stolz is only 21 and yet he is a veteran with two Winter Olympic Games under his belt. From here, he will go to the ISU World Championships in the Netherlands from 5-8 March, where he will attempt an unprecedented schedule in the sprints and Allround over four days.
“He’s a phenom,” Dan Jansen – the 1994 Olympic 1,000 m gold medalist – told The Sports Examiner. “Two golds and a silver, anybody would be happy with that. He should be, because he skated awesome.”
Jansen said that the other skaters didn’t want to lead the Mass Start because they knew Stolz would outsprint them in the end. Skaters who sit back save 40 percent of their energy.
“He knew it was him against the field,” Jansen said. “If he would have gone with the two guys at the start, it might have been different, but it’s easy to say after the event.”
Jansen said Stolz, a fellow Wisconsin native, is still getting better and will be a force in the sport for a long time.
“He might even go up in distance (to 5,000 m),” Jansen said. “He can do it all. Technically he’s better than anybody, his turns are much better than anybody’s and his endurance – not only can he sprint, but he’s got endurance for the last lap in the 1,500. That’s pretty rare.”
Yet Stolz’s 1,500 m in Milan was an anomaly. After Zhongyan Ning of China posted an eye-popping, Olympic record time of 1:41.98, Stolz, skating in the final pair, saw only red next to his time. That signifies a skater is behind the winning pace, not green for ahead.
Stolz said the early stages of the race weren’t good. “I didn’t have it today, not sure why,” he said. “I knew Ning’s time was 1:41. I thought that was a super fast time for him, probably the best race of his life. And I didn’t have my best race, so it was kind of hard to compete with his.”
Coach Bob Corby said it had been a long time since the usually consistent Stolz had a race like that. “Just not performing well, that hasn’t happened in a couple of years,” he said. “He didn’t have it in his legs from the start.”
On the podium, Stolz was disappointed, but gracious. “I was thinking it would have been nice to have gold,” he said, “but if anybody was going to win, I thought Ning would be the one to do it and I was happy for him.”
Going into the next Olympic cycle, Stolz plans to stick with these four events – the 500 m, 1,000 m, 1,500 m and Mass Start – but said, “in four years you don’t know what could happen.”
Upon his arrival in Milan, Stolz was the favorite to win four gold medals, possibly five if he skated in a heat of the relay (he did not skate in an early round and the relay eventually won the silver medal).
His quest brought comparisons to American Olympic icon Eric Heiden, who won five individual skating golds in Lake Placid from the 500 m to the 10,000 m.
“Oh yeah, nobody’s able to do what Heiden’s done,” Stolz said. “And probably will never happen again. Five gold medals is insane.”
He also marveled at the 1,500 m bronze medal won by 36-year-old Kjeld Nuis of Norway.
“That’s pretty impressive for his age,” Stolz said.
Could he see himself still going strong at age 36?
“I don’t know about that,” Stolz said. “That’s a little bit too long.”
And it’s a question for another day.
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