Jordan Stolz Claims Three Medals In Three Races At World Cup Final

Jordan Stolz began the World Cup season in November with a roar, winning a Gold medal and setting a Track Record in the Men’s 1500m at Stavanger, Norway.

This past weekend, he finished the World Cup with another Track Record and another win in the 1500m in Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland, blasting ahead of three-time Olympic Champion Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands in a dramatic final lap.

Stolz, a 2022 Olympian, reached the podium at the 1500m, 1000m and 500m distances for the second consecutive week, capturing one Gold and two Silver medals. He also won Junior World Titles at all three distances, plus the Men’s Team Sprint, last week in Inzell, Germany.

Joining Stolz at the top of the podium in another big weekend for the U.S. were Erin Jackson, Kimi Goetz and McKenzie Browne, who won a Gold medal in the Women’s Team Sprint and clinched the World Cup season title in the event. Goetz added a Silver medal in the Women’s 1000m and finished among the top five in two other races.

Stolz was paired against Nuis in their 1500m heat Friday. Trailing after the second lap, Stolz bolted ahead on the final backstretch, pounding out a final lap of 28.7 seconds and winning in a track-record time of 1 minute, 45.44 seconds. Nuis was second in 1:46.16.

“He just skated an incredible final lap,” said Nuis, who has won the last two Olympic championships at 1500m and is this season’s World Cup champion at that distance. “This guy has such tremendous stamina.”

Stolz finished second in the 500m Saturday with a time of 34.731 seconds, ending .04 seconds behind Japan’s Yuma Murakami. On Sunday, he finished runner-up to Wesly Dijs of the Netherlands in the 1000m as Dijs won in a track-record time of 1:08.52. Stolz was .12 seconds behind.

“I just never really got tired and just recovered real quickly,” Stolz said. “Maybe I’m near my peak.”

He ends the World Cup season ranked third in the 1000m and 1500m, and fifth in the 500m.

“Now I will just rest this week, bike, lift some weights and then I should be ready for the World Championships,” Stolz said.

Jackson, Goetz and Browne medaled for the third consecutive time this season in the Team Sprint, and for the second straight time they captured the Gold medal. The U.S. won in 1:27.92, defeating Silver medalist Canada by .81 seconds.

“I think it’s just a lot of fun to be able to skate with my pals and, of course, it’s always fun to win, and we did that a couple times this season, so that just makes it even better,” Jackson said.

Goetz also medaled for the second consecutive week in the 1000m, at the same track, placing second behind Netherlands’ Jutta Leerdam with a time of 1:15.54. Goetz’ time of 38.14 seconds matched Leerdam in the 500m, but Leerdam took third and Goetz fourth. Jackson, the defending Olympic Champion, finished sixth in 38.23 seconds.

Goetz also came close to scoring a medal in the 1500m, finishing fifth with a time of 1:57.98 and missing a medal by just .39 seconds.

Two-time Olympic medalist Brittany Bowe, who won her first individual World Cup medal of the season last week in the 1000m, nearly did the same Sunday. She placed fourth in the 1000m with a time of 1:15.82, missing the podium by .15 seconds. She finished eighth in the 1500m.

Mia Manganello Kilburg delivered a fifth-place finish in the Women’s Mass Start, finishing with a time of 9:03.65.

Ethan Cepuran, a 2022 Olympic Bronze medalist in Team Pursuit, placed fifth in the Men’s Mass Start with a time of 8:19.66. Casey Dawson, his Olympic and World Cup teammate in the Team Pursuit, had a seventh-place finish in the 5000m.

Austin Kleba, Cooper McLeod and Conor McDermott-Mostowy nearly delivered a medal in Men’s Team Sprint. They finished with a time of 1:22.89, placing fifth and missing the podium by 1.28 seconds.

Next up is the ISU World Speed Skating Championships, set for March 2-5 in Heerenveen, Netherlands.