US speedskater Jordan Stolz won the men's 1,000 meters at the Milan Cortina Games on Wednesday in an Olympic-record time in the first of what he hopes will be a four-gold Winter Games. Skating in the next-to-last pairing at Milano Speed Skating Stadium, a temporary facility constructed for these Olympics that has been producing fast times so far, Stolz finished in 1 minute, 6.28 seconds, reports the AP.
The 21-year-old from Wisconsin didn't threaten his world record of 1:05.37 but did better the Olympic standard of 1:07.18 that had stood since 2002—before Stolz was born. All four long track speedskating races in Milan have been won in the fastest times ever turned in at an Olympics.
Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands was a half-second slower than Stolz and took the silver medal. No one else came within a full second of Stolz's time. Zhongyan Ning of China got the bronze. Stolz's medal was his first at this level: As a 17-year-old at the 2022 Beijing Games, Stolz came in 14th in the 1,000 and 13th in the 500.
It also was the first medal of any sort in the men's 1,000 for the United States since the 2010 Vancouver Games. That's when Shani Davis—a mentor to Stolz—won his second consecutive gold in that event, and Chad Hedrick took the bronze. Dutch men had won the 1,000 at each of the past three Winter Games. NBC News reports Stolz has the 500-meter, 1,500-meter, and men's mass start ahead. Should he end up with at least three golds, he'll join Eric Heiden as the only American to win that many at one Winter Games in any sport. Heiden will still have him beat, however: He won five golds at the 1980 Games.
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