The Stars Shined Bright During An Emotional Olympic Trials

Jordan Stolz, a seven-time World Champion, reigning Olympic 500m champion Erin Jackson and six-time World Champion Brittany Bowe were among the 13 speed skaters to earn spots in the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 following the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Long Track held Jan. 2-5 in Milwaukee.

The 21-year-old Stolz, who made his Olympic debut in 2022, has emerged as one of the sport’s brightest stars in recent years and is undefeated so far this World Cup season in 500m, 1000m and 1500m races. He’ll compete in those races, plus the Mass Start, at the Milano Cortina Winter Games, which take place Feb. 6-22.

Stolz, a native of Kewaskum, Wisconsin, who was prequalified for the U.S. Olympic Team based on World Cup competition, won one of the Men’s 500m races and one of the Mass Start races during the Olympic Trials, which were held at the Pettit National Ice Center.

Jackson, who in 2022 became the first Black woman to win an individual Winter Olympic Gold medal, returns for her third Olympics, where she’ll race in the 500m and 1000m. Bowe, a former college basketball player, qualified for her fourth Olympics at age 37. She won the Women’s 1500m and finished runner-up to Jackson in the 1000m by .39 seconds.

Both Bowe and Jackson are former inline skating stars from Ocala, Florida.

“I’ve been so blessed to be able to do this for four quads now, 16 years of my life,” said Bowe, who intends to retire after the season. “Knock on wood, anything can happen between now and Italy, but to be able to go out on my own terms is a victory.”

U.S. Speedskating named an Olympic team of seven men and six women at the Trials, which included more than 10 hours of TV and streaming coverage across the NBC platform, including NBC, Peacock and USA Network. NBC’s TV and streaming options will carry hundreds of hours of Olympics coverage in February.

The competition in Milwaukee featured emotional victories, rinkside celebrations and visions of Milan, where the Olympic speed skating competition begins Feb. 7.

Those big moments in Milwaukee included Sarah Warren, a former college soccer player at the University of Illinois who has undergone nine knee surgeries, racing to greet her mom tearfully after qualifying for her first Olympic Games with a win in the second Women’s 500m race Monday, and Greta Myers, who raised her arms skyward triumphantly as cheers filled the Pettit Center when she claimed an Olympic spot in the Women’s 1500m on a re-skate.

“I’ve dreamed about this since I was a little girl,” Warren said.

Joining Bowe, Jackson, Warren and Myers on the women’s team are veteran Olympians Mia Manganello (2018, 2022) and Giorgia Birkeland (2022).

Stolz will be joined on the men’s team by returning Olympians Emery Lehman (2014, 2018, 2022), winner of the 1500m; Ethan Cepuran (2022) and Casey Dawson (2022); and first-timers Conor McDermott-Mostowy, Cooper McLeod and Zach Stoppelmoor, an Iowan whose time of 34.661 seconds in the second Men’s 500m was faster than even Stolz.

“I can’t stop smiling,” Stoppelmoor said on NBC after his win Monday. “Kind of want to cry.”

Jackson, who in 2022 also became the first Black American woman to win an Olympic speed skating medal, was one of three Team USA speed skating medalists in Beijing, joining Bronze medalists Bowe in the 1000m and the Men’s Team Pursuit.

Lehman, Cepuran and Dawson were members of that Team Pursuit (along with the now-retired Joey Mantia). In addition to qualifying for individual events, all three were named to the Team Pursuit for Milan as well. The trio had shined in the event in recent years, having won five straight World Cup season championships and the 2025 World Title.

Bowe, Manganello, Myers and Birkeland are qualified in the Women’s Team Pursuit.

Stolz made history at the 2023 World Championships, where he became both the sport’s youngest World Champion and the first to sweep the Men’s 500m, 1000m and 1500m titles. He repeated the sweep in 2024, and then put together a record-setting 18-race winning streak during the 2024-25 World Cup season. He’ll be the only American to skate in four individual races in Milan. Stolz won the first 500m race in Milwaukee and the second Mass Start, but he pulled out of the 1500m after the start and stumbled to the ice at the beginning of the 1000m before recovering for a third-place finish.

Following two weeks of training for the Trials, Stolz said, he caught a cold just two days before the start of the competition.

“I wish I could have done the 1500, but at the moment it just wasn’t the correct thing to do,” Stolz said.

In the 1000m, following the stumble and falling to his knees, he came back to finish third behind McDermott-Mostowy and McLeod.

“It’s more so kind of a more rare occurrence from all the training going into the competition and having a cold,” Stolz said. “It’s not something that’s going to bother me too much. It’s not going to be on my mind in Milan.”

Stolz’s win in the Mass Start, along with Dawson’s wins in the first Mass Start and the 5000m, and Manganello’s win in the Women’s Mass Start, fueled U.S. hopes in the Olympic distance events. Cepuran captured the second spot in the Men’s Mass Start, and Dawson is also qualified in the 10000m.

“I think it’s really good,” Stolz said. “We have some good chances in the Mass Start with Mia, and Team Pursuit. And Casey in 5K.”

McDermott-Mostowy and McLeod each qualified in the 1000m and 500m.

“I feel tremendously relieved right now,” McDermott-Mostowy said after winning the 1000m. “I’ve been really keeping it together outwardly the last couple of days. But really I have been absolutely freaking out.”

Warren, whose last knee surgery was just 15 months ago, was even more emotional following her win in the Women’s 500m with Jackson, the first 500m winner, out of the race.

“In that moment,” Warren said, “you realize all the sacrifices that everyone has made, it was worth it. And I got to go and live out my dream for that race. Final pair. It’s do or die. You have to win.”

Jackson, who has battled back and hamstring injuries, was grateful to be pain free this time around and prepping for Milan. She won the first 500m and the 1000m.

“The crowd was amazing, as always,” she said. “I love racing here at the Pettit. The energy in here is always really awesome.”

Before heading for the Games in Milan, the U.S. skaters have one more World Cup event scheduled for Jan. 23-25 in Inzell, Germany.

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.