It was a record-breaking day for Jordan Stolz.
Skating in the next-to-last heat on Wednesday, Stolz put down a gold-winning time of 1:06.28, in a field of 30 skaters, but it wasn’t truly his medal until 10 or so excruciating minutes later as he waited for another competitor to complete a re-skate.
Afterward, however, he couldn’t hold back his smile as he won his first Olympic medal at 21 years old and simultaneously broke the Olympic record of 1:07.18 that held since 2002, which was before the Wisconsin native was born.
Stolz still holds the world record of 1:05.37, which he set in 2024.
Behind Stolz, skated in Dutchman Jenning de Boo at 1:06.28 and China’s Ning Zhongyan followed for the bronze (1:07.34).
Stolz made his Olympic debut at just 17 in the 2022 Beijing Games and finished 13th in the 500-meter sprint and 14th in the 1,000-meter race.
Since then under coach Bob Corby, a former speed skater, Stolz has transformed into a threat on the ice and is now a seven-time champion and the leader of several distances in World Cup rankings.
It’s just the beginning for the speed-skating phenom in Milan.
He has three more chances to chase down another gold to add to his medal collection in Milan — the 500 meter, 1,500 meter, and the men’s mass start where racers all start together and race for a total of 16 laps.
Only two athletes have ever won four gold medals at a single Winter Games — Norway’s biathlon athlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen in 2002 and Soviet speed skater Lidiya Skoblikova in 1964.
American Eric Heiden is in his own playing field as the only athlete to win five gold medals in a single Winter Olympics, which he accomplished in 1980.