This is part of Slate’s 2026 Olympics coverage. Read more here.
America’s long national speed skating nightmare finally came to an end Wednesday at the Cortina Games in Milan. On the final lap of the 1,000-meter race, 21-year-old Wisconsin runner Jordan Stolz made a thrilling reverse sprint past Dutch superstar Jenning de Boo to set a new Olympic record and win gold. Before Wednesday, the United States had not won an Olympic medal in men’s long track speed skating in 16 years. Stoltz’s medal marks more than just the end of a long period of inactivity in a sport in which the United States once excelled. It may also herald the beginning of a new golden age.
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American long and short track speed skaters have been an international force for decades, with skaters such as Bonnie Blair, Dan Janssen, Shani Davis and Apollo Anton Honor winning Olympic titles. You may still recognize these names, which speaks to the immense popularity that speed skating has long enjoyed in the United States. Despite the sport’s relative obscurity, America’s top speed skaters often become crossover celebrities.
Twelve years ago, that dominance ended abruptly. Team USA failed to win a long track medal at both Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018, and has only won one short track medal at both Olympics. Team USA fared slightly better in 2022, with Erin Jackson winning gold in the 500 meters and a bronze in the men’s team sprint, but no medals in short track speed skating. Theories vary as to why U.S. speed skating has declined so rapidly. Some blamed substandard racing uniforms. Others blamed U.S. speed skating’s leadership. Others accused the short-track speed skating coach hired to build the U.S. team of being mean.
Maybe the real reason is that Team USA is waiting for Jordan Stoltz to reach his prime. As a child, Stoltz idolized Ohno and emulated him during the long Wisconsin winters, skating on his backyard pond. When Stoltz’s backyard wasn’t enough, his parents took him to one of the closest indoor rinks they could find, the Pettit National Skating Center in Milwaukee, which happens to be the best speed skating training center in the country. There, Stoltz worked with a series of top coaches, including Shani Davis, to develop his training program and skating style.
Stoltz’s development took off in leaps and bounds when he started working with Bob Corby. Bob Bryant is a former American speed skater who coached the 1984 Winter Olympics team, but ultimately left empty-handed. Being denied a medal bothered Bryant for years. “I’m very frustrated,” he said in a 2024 interview. “I asked myself: What did you do wrong? I thought a lot and said to myself: If I do this again, [I’d] Take a different approach. “
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More than three decades later, long after he had given up speed skating to pursue a career in physical therapy, Stoltz called out of the blue and asked to work with him. (“How could you say no to a 14-year-old kid calling you?” Bryant recalled.) Bryant’s long absence from the sport gave him a different perspective than many other top skating coaches. While contemporary trends in speed skating tend to focus on data and analytics, Bryant chose to emphasize Stoltz’s strength and conditioning. “He loved working,” Bryant said. “I pushed him on pretty much everything and he just responded.”
This old-school focus makes sense for Stoltz, who seems to have a preternatural feel for speedskating technique. He excels at timing and turn mechanics while minimizing “wasted moves” as well as any skater alive. “The things he does well usually require fine-tuning throughout a career,” 2006 Olympic gold medalist Joey Cheek told NPR in 2023. Gold medalist Dan Jansen agreed: “Jordan is just a freak. You can’t learn as good a skill as he does at 18. You have to feel it.”
Stoltz clearly “feels it” when he’s on the ice, which may be one of the reasons why data-centric training regimens don’t work for him. Rather than letting analytics tell him how to improve incrementally, Stoltz focused on what he was already doing well while counting on Bryant to push his body hard enough during training so that he could stay motivated for the final lap of race day.
That strategy paid off for Stoltz on Wednesday. In many previous heats, I’ve seen skaters take an early lead only to run out of gas at the end. Stoltz also led Deb early, but the Dutchman eventually overtook him and took the lead heading into the final lap. Then, on the final turn, Stoltz made a move and passed Deb on the inside, crossing the finish line and entering the Olympic record books.
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Stolz has three races remaining in Milan Cortina and will be marked as the man of the match in the 500m and 1,500m after a dominant performance on Wednesday and a strong contender for the mass start.
If you think pressure makes him uncomfortable, you don’t know Jordan Stoltz. “I love the feeling of being hunted,” he told CBC Sports last year. Finally, the rest of the world is chasing an American speed skater — and in this Olympics, Stoltz may never be caught.
Additional reporting by Rosemary Belson.
