Jordan Stolz (born May 21, 2004) is an American professional speed skater. At the 2023 World Speed Skating Championships, Stolz won the 500m to become the youngest single distance world champion in history. He also became the first male skater to win three individual gold medals at a single World Speed Skating Championship, a feat he repeated in 2024.
Stolz also won gold medals in the 500m, 1000m, and 1500m at the 2023 World Junior Speed Skating Championships, becoming the first person to win titles in three separate distances at the Senior and Junior World Championships in the same year.
He currently holds four junior world records (500m, 1000m, 1500m, Mini Combination) and two senior world records (1000m, Big Combination).
Early life
Stolz was born on May 21, 2004, in West Bend, Wisconsin, the son of dental hygenist Jane and police officer Dirk Stolz, originally from Germany.[1] Stolz took up skating on his family’s three-acre backyard pond in the small Wisconsin village of Kewaskum, about 45 minutes north of Milwaukee. Stolz was 5 years old when he saw the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver on television. Stolz was motivated to try skating after being excited from seeing the speed skaters travelling fast on the ice.[1][2] His father Dirk cleared the snow from the pond in their large backyard and bought hockey skates for both Jordan and his elder daughter, Hannah.[1][3] Dirk was very enthusiastic about his children skating and installed outdoor lighting at the family backyard pond so that both Jordan and his sister could skate at all hours.[1]
Stolz credited Apolo Anton Ohno's and Shani Davis's successes at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver as inspiration to initially take up skating at the age of 5. Stolz acknowledged that had he not seen the television coverage of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Stolz would not have been in the sport of speed skating.[1][4] Dirk said that the family would do short track until both Jordan and Hannah "got too fast". After initially training in short track, Stolz moved toward the long track after a few years and began winning national championships when he was in fifth grade.[4]
As Stolz got better and faster, he joined the Badger Speed Skating Club, then the West Allis Speed Skating Club. These two clubs joined together to form the Wisconsin Speed Skating Club at the Pettit National Ice Center.[5] As the center was a 90-minute round trip commute from his home, speed skating became a family sport and commitment; his father Dirk is a third-shift deputy sheriff for Milwaukee County who regularly works from 9 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. so he can be around in the daytime, whilst his mother Jane is a dental hygienist who works daytime hours.[6] Since fifth grade, Stolz was homeschooled online for 4½ hours a day, before commuting, practicing and training his sport for 5½ to 6 hours a day.[6]
Career
2020–21 season
At the 2021 US Long Track Speed Skating Championships (March 5-7, 2021) at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah, Stolz won his first U.S. senior national title in the 500 meters at just 16 years of age when he skated a time of 34.99 seconds in the first 500m race on March 5.[7][8][9] He went under 35.00 seconds in the 500m for the first time and broke the national junior record of 35.17 he had set the previous week during time trials at the Oval. The record was broken two days later when Cooper McCleod skated a 34.90 in the second 500m.[7][8][9][10] The next day in the first of two men's 1000 meter races he set a second national junior record by skating 1:08.57 to place third.[7][8][11] Then on March 7, he skated a 35.07 to finish third in the second 500m behind Austin Kleba (34.89) and Cooper McCleod (34.90), and followed that up with a sixth-place finish in the second 1000m in a time of 1:09.40.[7][12][13] With a Samalog score of 139.045 he finished third in the chase for the Men's US Sprint Championship behind Kleba (138.815) and Kimani Griffin (138.840).[7][14]
2021–22 Olympic season
At 17 years of age he made his senior international debut at ISU World Cup Speed Skating #3 (December 3-5, 2021) in Kearns, Utah, at the Utah Olympic Oval. On December 3, 2021, he finished last of 41 competitors in the first 500m division B race.[15] Two days later he won the second 500m division B race in 34.31 seconds, breaking his own junior world record.[16][17] Later that same day he set a second junior world record, this time in the 1000 meters, when he skated a time of 1:07.03 to place third in the division B race.[18][19] He was promoted to the 500m and 1000m division A for the next World Cup races.
The following week (December 10-12, 2021) at ISU World Cup Speed Skating #4 in Calgary, Canada, at the Calgary Olympic Oval he once again broke the 500m junior world record, as well as the American record, with a time of 34.11 in the first 500m Division A race on the first day of competition. His time was good enough for 7th place. The following day he finished third in Mass Start Semi Final 1,[20] earning a spot in the finals, where he finished 15th out of 17 skaters.[21] On the last day of competition Stolz won his first medal at the senior international level with a second place finish in the 1000m. His time of 1:06.96 broke the junior world record he had set the previous week at World Cup #3.[22][23][24]
During the Olympic trials at Pettit National Ice Center, he broke track records in the 500m and 1000m en route to winning both races. Both track records had been held by Shani Davis since 2005.[25] As a result, he was named to the United States' roster to compete in both distances at the 2022 Winter Olympics. He competed in the 500 meters, where he finished in thirteenth place, and the 1000 meters, where he finished in fourteenth place.[26] At 17 years old, he was the third-youngest American male to compete in the Olympics in long track speed skating.[27][28]
2022–23 season
On November 11, 2022, during the first event of the 2022–23 ISU Speed Skating World Cup, Stolz became the youngest man to win an individual World Cup speed skating race. He won the 1500 meters with a time of 1 minute, 44.891 seconds, a track record at Sørmarka Arena.[29] He also won a gold medal in the 1000 meters with a time of 1:08.73.[30] On December 17, 2022, during the fourth event of the 2022–23 ISU Speed Skating World Cup, Stolz won medals in all three events he competed in. He won a gold medal in the 1,000 meters, and silver medals in the 500 meters and 1,500 meters. He set the junior world and American records in the 500 meters with a time of 34.08 seconds.[31] He finished the season ranked among the top-three in the 1,000 and 1,500 meters, and in the top-five of the 500 meters.[32]
At the 2023 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships, Stolz won a gold medal in the 500 meters, 1000 meters and 1500 meters events, becoming the youngest world champion in history. In the 500 meters, he finished with a time of 34.10, while he finished the 1000 meters with a time of 1:07.11, both were the second-fastest time in history for a sea level rink.[35][36] He became the first male speed skater to win three individual gold medals at a single World Championship.[37][38] In addition, Stolz broke the record of youngest gold medalist that was previously held by female Femke Kok, who took team sprint gold in 2020, at age 19. Before Stolz, the youngest world champion in an individual event was female Martina Sáblíková, who won the first of her record 16 distance titles at age 19 in 2007.[39]
In February 2024 Stolz decided not to participate in the 2024 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships, but instead take part in the 2024 World Allround Speed Skating Championships that took place the following days. He called the allround title a more prestigious one and a bigger challenge.[46] Stolz won a gold medal and broke the world record in big combination with 144.740 points. He became the youngest man to win the World Allround Speed Skating Championships since fellow American Eric Heiden's second of three consecutive titles in 1978.[47] On the first day he finished first in the 500 meters with a Max Aicher Arena track record of 34.10 and in seventh place in the 5,000 meters with a time of 6:14.76.[48] On the second day he finished first in the 1,500 meters with a track record of 1:41.77, and in sixth place in the 10,000 meters with a time of 13:04.76.[49]
Personal life
Stolz, like most speedskaters, is an excellent cyclist; he is able to average 22 mph on Wisconsin’s country roads and many hills, covering 30 miles within 90 minutes to work on his endurance.[6]
Stolz eats pizza every day before training. His favorite restaurants are Jimmy John's, Texas Roadhouse and The Fox & Hounds in his hometown of Kewaskum.[50] Stolz's hobbies outside of skating, include hunting, fishing and long camping trips to the remote Alaskan wilderness; the family travels to Alaska during the summer to fish halibut and salmon and hunt moose.[51][52]
He is currently ranked second in the adelskalender with 144.027 points.[53]
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