Jordan Stolz copletes his warm ups at the U.S. Olympic trials for long track speed skating at the Pettit National Ice Center Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026 in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jordan Stolz appreciates that people liken what he will be trying to do at the Milan Cortina Winter Games to Eric Heiden’s record five speedskating gold medals at Lake Placid in 1980.
Who wouldn’t be flattered?
“It’s a cool comparison because not everybody is able to have that,” Stolz, a 21-year-old from Wisconsin, said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Soft-spoken yet confident, Stolz is positioned to be one of the faces of these Olympics, which begin Feb. 6. Not sure? Check out NBC’s ads.
He is quick to point out that his bid for golds in four events — and maybe, just maybe, five — is not the same as what Heiden accomplished nearly 50 years ago by becoming the only person in the sport to win the 500, 1,000, 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000 meters at one Games.
“It’s really not an exact comparison,” said Stolz, who qualified for the three shortest individual events. “If I can have perfect races, I think I have the best chances out of a lot of people to win gold.”
Folks who spend a lot of time around Stolz tend to agree that is realistic.
“He’s a once-in-a-generation skater,” said Emery Lehman, a 2022 bronze medalist for the U.S. in team pursuit. “I was talking to one of the older skaters the other day about Heiden doing this stuff 40-50 years ago. It’s similar in that people are really in awe.”
U.S. Speedskating national team coach Ryan Shimabukuro put it in simple terms.
“He’s the best skater in the world,” Shimabukuro said. “No doubt about that.”
Why the Dutch call Stolz ‘Straaljager’
He is a two-time world champion at all three of his main distances, the 500, 1,000 and 1,500. The world record-holder in the 1,000. Owner of an 18-race winning streak in the past.
It’s why the Dutch, historically dominant at speedskating, nicknamed him “Straaljager” (“Fighter Jet”). Shimabukuro calls him “Champ.”
At a pair of World Cup stops in December, Stolz went 7-0, which U.S. Speedskating executive director Ted Morris said, “sent a really powerful message; you can see it in those skaters’ eyes, like, ‘What just happened? I’m not close anymore.’”
That thought first entered minds when Stolz, still a teen, swept those three races at the 2023 single-distance championships. A year earlier, making his Olympics debut in Beijing, Stolz was 13th in the 500 and 14th in the 1,000.
This time, in addition to those distances and the 1,500, which all are contested in 1-on-1 heats, he also will enter the mass start, a race covering 6,400 meters with a pack of entrants. And there is a chance Stolz could be in a fifth event: team pursuit, in which three teammates do 3,200 meters together.
“It’s going to be more of an in-the-moment thing,” Stolz said about entering that, too.
The U.S. men hold the world record and are favored for gold. Their usual trio is Lehman, Ethan Cepuran and Casey Dawson, but Stolz could participate in a round. As with relay events in athletics or swimming, someone in any heat, even if not the final, earns the same medal as the rest of the squad.
His coach, Bob Corby, said Stolz could join that event in Milan “if somebody gets sick or somebody gets injured.”
From backyard ice to the Olympics
The Stolz origin story is the stuff of movies.
Jordan, then 5, and his sister, Hannah, then 7, fell in love with skating by watching American short track star Apolo Ohno win some of his eight career Olympic medals during the 2010 Vancouver Games. Their father, Dirk, cleared snow off a frozen pond in their backyard so they could learn to skate. Their mother, Jane, found used skates at a nearby club.
“It’s a talent. It’s a gift. And he’s driven to continue to improve,” Jane said of her son. “A lot of people are more into, ‘Let’s see who I can beat.’ No, he just likes to keep getting better.”
And now Jordan Stolz heads to his second Winter Games with all eyes on him.
Will that affect Stolz?
“I really don’t think he cares,” Corby said. “That whole situation is pretty much what’s happened for the last three years, and especially the last three months.”
Asked the same question while sitting on a bench during the U.S. Olympic trials in early January, Stolz shrugged.
His answer arrived in almost a whisper.
“As long as nothing gets in the way, then I should be fine,” Stolz said. “I’ve had a lot of high-pressure races, I guess you could say, so I don’t think that’s that big of an issue.”
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
By HOWARD FENDRICH
AP National Writer