February 14, 2026 – Milan, Italy – Olympic speedskater Jordan Stolz brought home gold on Valentine’s Day. The 21-year-old from the Town of Wayne secured his second gold-medal finish in as many races, with a time of 33.77 and a new Olympic record in the 500m.
Paired in the 13th heat, it was a repeat matchup between Stolz and Jenning De Boo of the Netherlands who initially raced against each other in the 1000m. Stolz picked up his first gold in that contest and was aiming for another.
Being faster than De Boo in the 100m opener was going to be key, along with having the edge going into the last turn after the backstretch.
Stolz told International Skating Union, “I wanted to be ahead of him at 100m, and I could kind of hear him, so I thought, I need to go a little bit faster.”
The fastest 100m belonged to Yevgeniy Koshkin who clocked a 9.39.
Stolz managed a 9.55 and De Boo a 9.62.
”Jordan beating De Boo in the opener took all the race out of his competition,” said Jordan’s former coach and Olympic gold medalist Shani Davis. “The only difference that separated them was the opener.”
The crowd at the Milano Ice Park in Rho was a blur of orange as the Dutch have a massive contingency. During the opening announcements the cheers for De Boo far outweighed support from the US.
In past interviews Stolz has said he “doesn’t hear a thing.”
In a post-race press conference, Stolz was quoted by ISU regarding his final turn, “I thought, when I (would) come out of the exit, if we were right next to each other or even if he was a little bit ahead, I thought I would still be able to win, just because my last hundred is really good, but I skated a really good race. That last outer was perfect, so he didn’t catch up to me.”
Stolz eventually crossed the finish line 33.77s, bringing the Olympic record under 34 seconds for the first time in history. De Boo finished 0.11s later in 33.88s.
Stolz’s finish time was a hair off the world record, 33.61, set by Pavel Kulizhnikov on March 9, 2019.
“I felt good about the race when he beat De Boo to the 100m mark,” said Olympican Dan Jansen who was in attendance. “But WOW, they both skated incredible races.”
Post race Stolz said, “Yeah, it felt really good to win the 500 after the 1000m. I was kind of nervous going into it and then it was super nice to have one gold medal, but now to have two, it’s super cool.”
Stolz also gave a shoutout to those back home who have been showing support. “I really enjoy it, especially, since they’re back in Wisconsin and glad I’m making them happy and not disappointing them.”
Up next, coach Bob Corby said Stolz will have a rest day on Sunday and then return for some light practice days before the 1500m on Thursday, February 19, 2026.
The pairings have yet to be announced.
Peacock and NBCsports.com have been broadcasting the races. #OlympicGames
On a side note: The interview with Stolz is short, out of respect. It was about three hours since the race ended. There was the awards ceremony, the mix zone with national media, drug testing, and lots of requests for photos and autographs. Stolz is happy to accomodate and a hat tip to his agent for setting up the one-on-one with an Olympic champion.
