Jordan Stolz Scores Four Golds At Long Track Junior Worlds

Jordan Stolz took just two days to clinch the overall Junior World Title in Inzell, Germany.

By the time he was done Sunday, Stolz, a 2022 Olympian, had won three individual Gold medals, one team Gold medal, and two individual Bronze medals over three days of the ISU World Junior Speed Skating Championships.

Stolz, of Kewaskum, Wisconsin, won at the Men’s 500m, 1000m and 1500m distances, and had third-place finishes in the 5000m and Mass Start races. He also combined with Jonathan Tobon and Auggie Herman for a victory in the Men’s Team Sprint.

The dominating performances continued a stellar season for Stolz that has included six World Cup medals, three U.S. Titles and a Junior World Record. In November at age 18, Stolz became the youngest man in history to win a World Cup race when he won the Men’s 1500m in Stavanger, Norway.

Greta Myers, an 18-year-old from Minnesota, also had a strong weekend. She won Bronze medals in the Women’s 1500m and 1000m, plus a Silver in the Women’s Team Pursuit.

Stolz and Myers combined to reach the podium in seven individual events, and U.S. skaters medaled in two of the four team events Sunday.

Stolz began his weekend on Friday by winning the 500m in 34.95 seconds, edging Japan’s Issa Gunji by .02 seconds, and the 1500m in 1:45.17. He added a win in the 1000m on Saturday with a time of 1:08.28, then came back to finish third in the 5000m with a time of 6:27.68. He also finished third in Sunday’s Mass Start, the weekend’s final event, with a time of 5:22.01.

Earlier Sunday, Stolz, Tobon and Herman won the Team Sprint by more than a second over the Netherlands, finishing with a time of 1:20.89. The trio nearly won another medal in the Team Pursuit on Sunday, but their time of 3:55.59 put them in fourth place, 2.45 seconds behind Japan for the final podium spot.

Myers secured a Bronze medal in the Women’s 1500m with a time of 2:00.56 on Friday, then finished third in the 1000m on Saturday with a time of 1:17.82. She also posted top-10 finishes in the 500m and 3000m, placing fifth in the 500m with a time of 39.27 seconds and sixth in the 3000m with a time of 4:15.22.

Myers teamed up with Thalia Staehle and Marley Soldan to win a Silver medal in the Women’s Team Pursuit. They finished in 3:12.45, trailing winner Netherlands by 8.70.

Staehle was the highest-finishing American in the Women’s Mass Start, in 11th place.

Tobon placed eighth in the Men’s 1500m and was 10th in the 1000m. Carl Tatelli was ninth in the Men’s Mass Start.

Overall. the U.S. finished second overall in the medal count. The Netherlands ended the 2023 World Junior Speed Skating Championships as the best nation with 18 medals, including seven Gold, seven Silver and four Bronze.

The United States were the second-best nation with 11 medals overall while Japan finished behind them with five podium spots at the International Skating Union event in Inzell, Germany.