US speedskater Jordan Stolz draws Heiden comparisons ahead of Olympics

20 Views

By HOWARD FENDRICH, AP Nationwide Author

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jordan Stolz appreciates that folks liken what he shall be attempting to do on the Milan Cortina Winter Games to Eric Heiden’s document 5 speedskating gold medals at Lake Placid in 1980.

Who wouldn’t be flattered?

“It’s a cool comparability as a result of not all people is ready to have that,” Stolz, a 21-year-old from Wisconsin, stated in an interview with The Related Press.

Smooth-spoken but assured, Stolz is positioned to be one of many faces of those Olympics, which start Feb. 6. Unsure? Take a look at NBC’s adverts.

He’s fast to level out that his bid for golds in 4 occasions — and perhaps, simply perhaps, 5 — isn’t the identical as what Heiden accomplished practically 50 years in the past by changing into the one particular person within the sport to win the five hundred, 1,000, 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000 meters at one Video games.

“It’s actually not an actual comparability,” stated Stolz, who certified for the three shortest particular person occasions. “If I can have good races, I feel I’ve one of the best possibilities out of lots of people to win gold.”

Of us who spend numerous time round Stolz are inclined to agree that’s life like.

“He’s a once-in-a-generation skater,” stated Emery Lehman, a 2022 bronze medalist for the U.S. in group pursuit. “I used to be speaking to one of many older skaters the opposite day about Heiden doing these things 40-50 years in the past. It’s related in that individuals are actually in awe.”

U.S. Speedskating nationwide group coach Ryan Shimabukuro put it in easy phrases.

“He’s one of the best skater on the earth,” Shimabukuro stated. “Little doubt about that.”

1 of 4

Jordan Stolz competes within the males’s 500 meters on the U.S. Olympic trials for lengthy monitor velocity skating on the Pettit Nationwide Ice Heart Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026 in Milwaukee. (AP Photograph/Morry Gash)

Expand

Why the Dutch name Stolz ‘Straaljager’

He’s a two-time world champion in any respect three of his primary distances, the five hundred, 1,000 and 1,500. The world record-holder within the 1,000. Proprietor of an 18-race successful streak previously.

It’s why the Dutch, traditionally 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 govt director Ted Morris stated, “despatched a very highly effective message; you may see it in these skaters’ eyes, like, ‘What simply occurred? I’m not shut anymore.’”

That thought first entered minds when Stolz, nonetheless a teen, swept these three races on the 2023 single-distance championships. A yr earlier, making his Olympics debut in Beijing, Stolz was thirteenth within the 500 and 14th within the 1,000.

This time, along with these distances and the 1,500, which all are contested in 1-on-1 heats, he additionally will enter the mass begin, a race masking 6,400 meters with a pack of entrants. And there’s a probability Stolz may very well be in a fifth occasion: group pursuit, through which three teammates do 3,200 meters collectively.

“It’s going to be extra of an in-the-moment factor,” Stolz stated about coming into that, too.

The U.S. males maintain the world document and are favored for gold. Their normal trio is Lehman, Ethan Cepuran and Casey Dawson, however Stolz may take part in a spherical. As with relay occasions in athletics or swimming, somebody in any warmth, even when not the ultimate, earns the identical medal as the remainder of the squad.

His coach, Bob Corby, stated Stolz may be a part of that occasion in Milan “if anyone will get sick or anyone will get injured.”

From yard ice to the Olympics

The Stolz origin story is the stuff of flicks.

Jordan, then 5, and his sister, Hannah, then 7, fell in love with skating by watching American brief monitor star Apolo Ohno win a few of his eight profession Olympic medals through the 2010 Vancouver Video games. Their father, Dirk, cleared snow off a frozen pond of their yard so they may study to skate. Their mom, Jane, discovered used skates at a close-by membership.

“It’s a expertise. It’s a present. And he’s pushed to proceed to enhance,” Jane stated of her son. “Lots of people are extra into, ‘Let’s see who I can beat.’ No, he simply likes to maintain getting higher.”

And now Jordan Stolz heads to his second Winter Video games with all eyes on him.

Will that have an effect on Stolz?