Jordan Stolz: A Lightning-Fast Rise Toward Milano Cortina 2026
Jordan Stolz grew up in West Bend, Wisconsin, started speed skating at five years old. By 17, he blasted through the 2022 U.S. Olympic Trials to qualify for Beijing, finishing 13th in the 500m and 14th in the 1000m, a valuable experience for a teenager suddenly on the sport’s biggest stage.
The afterburners kicked in during 2023–24. Stolz became the youngest individual-distance world champion in history and the first man to sweep the 500m, 1000m, and 1500m at the World Single Distances Championships, a feat he repeated in 2024. He then won the 2024 World Allround title on debut, setting a world points record (“big combination”) that underscored his range from sprint to distance.
What followed was a season that rewrote record books. Stolz reeled off World Cup victories across multiple stops, setting a sea-level world best in the 1000m and pushing his consecutive World Cup win streak to 18, an all-time men’s record. Stolz’s hallmark is clean, aerodynamic efficiency coupled with outrageous top-end speed: explosive openers, precise corner pressure, and the control to keep lap fade minimal. The upshot is versatility, he’s as dangerous in the 500m as he is lethal in the 1000m and 1500m. That combination, considered rare at the elite level, underpins his world titles and the long win streak through 2024–25.
Jordan Stolz’s life in elite skating has been anything but small. A life that is more like a compressed supernova of records and trophies pointing directly toward Milano Cortina. The opportunity in 2026 is clear: convert unprecedented form into Olympic hardware at the sport’s newest cathedral in Milan.
