Nickel: Stolz takes silver in final race, ending streak, but shaking up world of speedskating

Three years ago Jordan Stolz was an almost shy teenager who didn’t even have his driver’s license when he made his big-stage debut here at the U.S. Olympic Trials, just a hometown, homeschooled kid trying to fit in as the fastest American man to qualify for the 2022 Beijing Games.

Stolz, now 20, has robustly shaken up the entire world of long track speedskating, with further confirmation of this fact at the Pettit National Ice Center for the first ISU World Cup event in Milwaukee in 20 years. Last weekend, he was the man to beat. In the 500, 1,000, and 1,500 meters. The six time single distance World Champion, World Allround champion, and world record holder was every topic of conversation and consideration in his homecoming.

Stolz has left his senior competitors in awe of his emerging greatness, and his younger contemporaries scratching their heads wondering how they can beat him.

But – the streak is over.

On his fourth and final race on Sunday, Stolz showed he was in fact, almost human.

He took a silver medal in the 500 meters, skating a modest-by-his-standards 9.66 seconds opener and unable to make up for it on the back end to meet and beat the man he was paired with, Tatsuya Shinhama of Japan. Shinhama, 28, took gold in 34.14; Stolz’s time was 34.19.

“I thought it was a pretty clean technique on the opener. I just didn’t have the snap today, just fatigued,” said Stolz.

Just a day earlier, Stolz skated a blistering 33.91 here in the same event in the first 500-meter race of the World Cup, which featured two 500 meter men’s races. Conditions were perfect Saturday and so was Stolz from beginning to end. It’s a tall task to duplicate anything like that.

“I just wish I skated the second turn better, but it’s hard to skate a perfect race every time,” said Stolz.

The silver medal Sunday broke Stolz’s World Cup gold-medal streak at 18, believed to be the longest for a male skater in International Skating Union history (ISU is still counting the streak at 22 in social media posts, but that may be modified).

Stolz’s World Cup race only gold-medal streak went all the way back to February of 2024 when he skated a rare and extremely unusual long distance 5,000-meter race, in preparation of his pursuit of the World AllRound championship – which he won.

The silver medal Sunday for Stolz diminishes nothing about his season so far or his Milwaukee World Cup or his résumé. He is still a speedskating maverick dominant in the sprints as well as middle distance as the leader in all three events in overall World Cup standings.

Still, take no credit away from veteran Shinhama, who suffered an injury 11 months ago and spent a great deal of effort to make this come back. He’s third in the standings overall, behind Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands. Shinhama had this to say after his big win according to his Japanese to English translator:

“It was his first time come to and skate in Milwaukee. However, he heard about it, about the rink. And also it was a try for him… and is also the win. There was a win! So he was expected to aim for the speed – and got a win. And also the first thing is about the spectators: They are really cheering up for the skaters, so that he really enjoyed the last three days.” The organizers for the Pettit National Ice Center made a strong case that the ISU should host a World Cup in Milwaukee every year with the job that GM Paul Golomski and his team did with making fast ice.  “The ice is always great at the Pettit,” said American Olympic gold medalist Erin Jackson. “Paul does a really good job here. This is my favorite place to race. And he definitely delivered. I was just really excited that we would have a World Cup here so that the rest of the world could come in and see what a great job they do here.” Part of the prep work with the Pettit is taking the rink ice down from 1 to 1.25 inches to less than an inch, between .5 and .75. In the first two days, every individual gold medalist set a Pettit track record. By the end of the even, numerous skaters had recorded personal best times. “We had some great people working on the ice, shaving it down,” said American long distance skater Casey Dawson who set a national record in the 5000 here this weekend. “Making sure its at the right temperature – that helped a lot; they don’t usually do that at the Pettit. Unless it’s a big competition like the Olympic Trials or a World Cup.  “The home ice advantage with the crowd and everything cheering us on I think that helps a lot too.” Even with the glorious bright orange of the Dutch, a dominant world skating team, the American contingent of spectators was the strongest. It’s rare to have a World Cup in the U.S. and especially outside of Salt Lake City. The Pettit was sold out and drew a standing room-only crowd, estimated to be 1,500 a day, many of them kids, perhaps inspiring the future of the sport for the next generation.  “Its amazing being Jordan’s teammate and just seeing what he’s doing for the sport,” said Jackson. “He’s just phenomenal. It’s really impressive to see him keep pulling out these wins time and time again. And not even just wins – he’s pretty much smashing the competition. “Its really encouraging for the team because when one of us wins we all win. So its really awesome to be living in the same generation as Jordan.” “It’s a talent, and when you see him skating it’s like, he likes to skate – and that’s the important thing,” said Italian 3,000m champion Francesca Lollobrigida. “You know when you see someone skate and no smile, no empathy (emotion)? He has that. I think he will have a long career.” Canadian Laurent Dubreuil, 32, reflected on his World Cup and coming back from injury to skate in Milwaukee. He doesn’t envy the next generation trying to beat Stolz.“I’ve had a good career; I was just lucky I was born 10 years before him,” he said. Kjeld Nuis, 35, the decorated Dutch speedskater, added: “I’m really happy I’m not in his generation.”