Jordan Stolz Scores A Historic Trio Of World Titles — Again

Jordan Stolz has done it again.

One year after becoming the first man to win three individual Gold medals at an ISU World Single Distances Championships, the 19-year-old from Wisconsin did it again, sweeping the Men’s 500m, 1000m and 1500m over the weekend in Calgary, Alberta.

His achievement led a powerful weekend in which the U.S. won five medals in Calgary. Kimi Goetz reached an individual podium at a World Championships for the first time, winning a Bronze medal in the Women’s 500m. The U.S. added a Silver medal in the Women’s Team Sprint and nearly added more medals in the Women’s and Men’s Team Pursuit.

Stolz, a 2022 Olympian who became the youngest skater to win a World Title last year at 18, repeated the same sweep of the three shortest events this year at the Calgary Olympic Oval. Including winning three individual events at the 2023 Junior World Championships, Stolz has won nine world titles in the last year.

“The feeling last year was a bit surreal because it was the first medals in the World Championships ever,” Stolz said, “but this is also kind of crazy, that I did it again. I feel like winning twice is way more impressive. The chances of doubling again are pretty low, but I was able to manage.”

Clearly, Stolz is looking ahead to the World Allround & Sprint Championships, which take place March 7-10 in Inzell, Germany. Stolz said he is considering entering the sprint portion of the event but is more focused on the Allround Championships.

Two of Stolz’s wins in Calgary set Track Records, and he almost set a third.

Stolz began the sweep by setting a Track Record with a Personal-Best time of 33.69 seconds in the 500m Friday. He missed a World Record by just .08 seconds. Stolz had an opener of 9.45 seconds and actually slipped on the ice before passing Canada’s Laurent Dubreuil, the former holder of the Track Record, on the back stretch.

“I actually really liked being paired with (Dubreuil). I feel like he really helps me on the opener, pushing me,” Stolz said. “I knew as I was right next to him, I figured it was a really good opener. And in my first turn, I felt like I had a lot of power to the back stretch. I just had to make sure to set up the second turn well. I was going so fast through that I felt like I was kind of stepping right through. The turns are really hard to push through when you’re at top speed here.”

Stolz topped Debreuil, an Olympic Silver medalist, by .26 seconds.

One day later, Stolz set another Track Tecord in the 1000m, winning with a time of 1:06.05. He defeated China’s Ning Zhongyan by .48 seconds.

“I was tired or something,” said Stolz, who owns the World Record in the event at 1:05.37. “Obviously, the 500 was going all out yesterday so the nervous system might be a little tired.”

Stolz completed the trifecta Sunday, winning the 1500m in 1:41.44 and defeating two-time reigning Olympic Champion Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands by more than a second. He missed another track record by .11 seconds.

On the same day that Stolz won in the 500m, Goetz won the Bronze medal in the Women’s 500m, capturing her first World Championships individual medal. She finished third behind the Netherlands’ Femke Kok and South Korea’s Kim Min-sun with a time of 37.21 seconds.

“It’s really exciting,” Goetz said. “Last year I got a medal in the Team Sprint, but it was a little lackluster in my individual races. And this year, the 500, it hasn’t been like hit or miss. I’ve been top five in all of them, but it hasn’t been consistent on the podium. So I knew I’d have to put together a really good one today to have a chance against these girls.”

Goetz finished fifth in the 1000m and seventh in the 1500m.

Reigning Olympic Champion Erin Jackson, a four-time World Cup winner at 500m this season, finished fifth with a time of 37.25 seconds.

Jackson also teamed up with three-time Olympian Brittany Bowe and Sarah Warren to win a Silver medal in the Women’s Team Sprint on the opening day of competition. They finished second with a time of 1:26.04, less than a second behind Canada.

“It’s really fun to skate together and getting our first medal of the weekend, I’m really excited about it,” Bowe said. “I think we did an awesome job. The Canadians, they skated out of their mind today, so congratulations to them, but, yeah, we are really happy with getting the first medal for Team USA.”

Bowe nearly won another medal the next day, teaming up with Mia Manganello and Giorgia Birkeland in the Women’s Team Pursuit. They finished fourth, behind the Netherlands, Canada and Japan, with a time of 2:57.80. Bowe had a pair of 11th-place finishes in the 1000m and 1500m.

The Men’s Team Pursuit squad of Casey Dawson, Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran, which won a Bronze medal at the 2022 Olympics, also finished fourth. They finished with a time of 3:38.64, trailing Italy, Norway and Canada.

Among other top U.S. finishes, Manganello was eighth in the Women’s Mass Start and Lehman was seventh in the Men’s 1500m.

Austin Kleba, Cooper McLeod and Zach Stoppelmoor teamed up for a sixth-place finish in the Men’s Team Sprint.

Paul D. Bowker has been writing about Olympic and Paralympic sports since 1996, when he was an assistant bureau chief in Atlanta. He is a freelance contributor to USSpeedskating.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.