MILAN — No more medals for Jordan Stolz.
Stolz was fourth in the mass start Saturday, Feb. 21, the first time in four races at 2026 Milano Cortina he has finished off the podium. The 21-year-old leaves these Games with three medals, two of them gold.
It’s the best performance by a U.S Winter Olympian in 20 years, since fellow speed skater Chad Hedrick also won three (gold, silver and bronze) at the 2006 Games in Turin.
‘I would say it was 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 came to these Games predicted to win four medals, with three of them likely gold. He won gold in the 500 and 1,000 meters, setting Olympic records in the process, and got silver in the 1,500 meters.
The mass start was always going to be the biggest crapshoot of his four races, though. Though Stolz had medaled in it twice during the World Cup season, including a win in Hamar, Norway, the 16-lap event event that resembles short track – or NASCAR – requires speed, strategy and some luck.
A skater can get taken out by other skaters, as happened to Norway’s Didrik Eng Strand in the second semifinal. Get too far behind the lead pack, or get boxed in, and you won’t be able to make a move.
Or, in the case Saturday, eventual gold medalist Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands and silver medalist Viktor Hald Thorup of Denmark made a break during the third lap. They got so far ahead that the rest of the pack was racing for bronze.
It was clear the others were waiting for Stolz to make a move with four laps to go. But had he done that, he’d have been so gassed he wouldn’t have been able to make the final sprint.
‘If I would’ve known that, that they would’ve been reluctant to chase, even when none of the guys have a medal, I probably would’ve attacked a little bit more,’ Stolz said. ‘But if I would’ve done that, they still would’ve just followed me and I would’ve just canceled out.’
Stolz battled Andrea Giovannini down the stretch, but the Italian managed to get in front of him in the last nanosecond. Stolz finished 0.09 seconds back.
‘I felt like the gold medal favorites in the mass start were going to be more hungry to try and get a medal,’ Stolz said. ‘But they all were just kind of expecting me to go for it and it didn’t really work.’
There are more medals in Stolz’s future, though. At the Olympics and elsewhere. The world championships are in two weeks and Stolz said he plans to be there.
‘I’ll try and attempt the sprints and the allround, which is four days,’ he said. ‘Nobody’s ever done that before.’
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