10 Photos of Jordan Stolz: The Olympic Gold Medallist Who Broke Men's Speed Skating Record and Setting His Own

Team USA's Jordan Stolz secured another gold medal in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics for men's speed skating. Stolz broke the Olympic record, ultimately setting his own record for his division of the sport.

On 14 February, Stolz won his second gold medal in the men's 500 metres at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium. Paired with Netherlands' Jenning de Boo, he finished in 33.79 seconds, setting a new Olympic record. De Boo took silver whilst Canada's Laurent Dubreuil claimed bronze.

Chasing Four Gold Medals

Stolz, who plans on securing four gold medals in the Olympics, must win his final two races: the 1,500 metres on 19 February and the mass start on 21 February. He won his first gold medal in the men's 1,000 metres on 11 February, setting another Olympic record in the process. Prior to Stolz, only two others won four gold medals in speed skating in a single Winter Olympics, whilst fellow American Eric Heiden remains the only one to win five gold medals in 1980.

With the 500 metres being the shortest of the three tracks, Stolz is aware of the pressure to win such an event, yet shared with NBC that he does not let it bother him. 'I felt a lot less pressure today just because I got the first one out of the way and I thought, "This one's not worth stressing over because it's going to be a tossup anyway,"' said Stolz, adding that it was 'going to be whoever skates a really clean race between me and Jenning, and we both skated clean, and I was able to win'.

More Than Breaking and Setting Olympic Records

Stolz is also the first American to win the 500-metre event since Joey Cheek in 2006. 'I think it was the best 500 he ever skated. It just was phenomenal,' said Stolz's coach Bob Corby. 'It was a great start, a great opener, and then once he got around the corner, then he just turned on the after burners and just burned up the back stretch – and that was part of the plan because we knew that, "Jenning is going to be behind you. You can't see him, and he is going to be coming after you and setting up that last corner...You got to go as hard as you can," and he did. He executed it perfectly.'

Stolz's teammate Cooper McLeod said that had their event taken place at the Salt Lake City rink, which is known as the fastest ice on Earth because of the thin air, he and de Boo would have broken the world record. 'For sure a world record,' said McLeod following the race. 'Almost no question. The ice is pretty good here. It's pretty fast for a sea-level track, but we just watched some special, historic skating...The Olympic record was lowered by almost a half-second today. That doesn't happen.'

Breakout Star in Speed Skating

Stolz emerged as a breakout star in men's speed skating when he won twice in the 2022 Olympic trials at just 17 years old. At the 500 metres, Stolz has two World titles, the last two World Cup titles, a junior world record, and a sea-level senior world record. Just in the 2025-2026 season alone, Stolz set records in tournaments in Heerenveen, Netherlands, and Hamar, Norway.

Stolz is also a two-time world champion and reigning world champion in both the 1,000 metres and 1,500 metres. As he trains with the Dutch during the offseason, Stolz was given the nickname 'Straaljager', which means 'fighter jet'.