MILAN — For a while now, Jordan Stolz’s talent and dominance as a speedskater, and his much-anticipated potential for Olympic success, prompted many to repeatedly mention his name — prematurely, no doubt — alongside that of Eric Heiden. Now they really do belong in the same sentence, at least in one regard.
Stolz established himself as a two-time Olympic gold medalist, midway to his goal of four at the Milan Cortina Games, by winning the 500 meters on Saturday to follow up his victory in the 1,000. Those twin triumphs allowed Stolz, a 21-year-old from Wisconsin, to join Heiden as the only men to complete the 500-1,000 double in speedskating at one Olympics.
“I mean, I guess it’s halfway, but it’s hard to say it’s like a 50% chance to get the other two,” Stolz said. “Because you never know what can happen.”
Heiden, of course, completed a record sweep of all five individual events at the 1980 Lake Placid Games for the U.S., taking everything from the 500 to the 10,000.
With Heiden in the stands Saturday, Stolz finished the 500 in an Olympic-record time of 33.77 seconds, after also setting a Games mark in his win in the 1,000. Both times, the silver went to Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands, who clocked 33.88 in the shortest speedskating event. Both times, they raced head-to-head in the same heat.
“We push each other. He’s really strong. I’m also really strong. It’s really cool to see,” Stolz said. “I guess I like being paired together. It makes it more fun for the viewers.”
Stolz figured the 500 would be his toughest test in Milan. He was leading out of the final curve. They were even entering the last stretch. But Stolz, who overcame a deficit in the 1,000, turned on the speed and leaned across the line first again. De Boo slipped and fell into the wall afterward, while Stolz skated past and shook his right fist.
Canada’s Laurent Dubreuil got the bronze in 34.26.
The last American to win Olympic gold in the men’s 500 was Joey Cheek in 2006.
The soft-spoken Stolz acknowledges that, yes, his aims are high, and, sure, he is flattered by the comparisons to Heiden. But Stolz, who isn’t entered in the 5,000 or 10,000 in Milan, also knows he isn’t trying to recreate the same sort of unprecedented and all-encompassing performance turned in by Heiden.
Still, Stolz does have a real shot at the four medals, maybe even four golds, he is seeking at his second Winter Games.
“He goes to the starting line,” said Heiden, who’s also from Wisconsin and, like Stolz, learned to skate on a backyard frozen pond, “and I would suspect he thinks he’s probably going to win.”
Heiden greeted Stolz when he left the ice with the gold after the 500 and gave him a hug.
The first gold? Stolz’s father, Dirk, said Jordan slept with it on his pillow the night after the 1,000.
“You see some athletes, just mentally — they might be physically all there, but all of a sudden, the pressure comes in and it affects their performance,” Dirk Stolz said. “And I don’t see it with Jordan a whole lot.
At Beijing in 2022, just 17 years old, Stolz finished 13th in the 500 and 14th in the 1,000. In the time since, though, he has established himself as the best in the world at his sport, including two world titles each at the 500, the 1,000 and the 1,500. And right now, Stolz is so far living up to the outsized expectations and accompanying pressure that follow his every stride on the ice at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium, a temporary facility created for this event.
Two races, two golds, two Olympic records.
“It just seems like he doesn’t get tired,” Dubreuil said. “I really don’t understand how that’s possible for somebody.”
Now there are two more races for Stolz, a six-time world champion: the 1,500 meters on Thursday, and the mass start on Feb. 21.
The last man with three gold medals in speedskating at one Winter Games was Norway’s Johann Olav Koss, who won the 1,500, the 5,000 and the 10,000 at the 1994 Lillehammer Games
Stolz took to the ice to warm up Saturday about 2½ hours before his race. He paused at one point to plop himself down for a seat on the low boards along the ice, retying his black-and-green skates and smiling while chatting with his coach, Bob Corby.
No sign of nerves. None at all.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a walk in the park,” Stolz said. “I still have to do the right things.”
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