December 5, 2025 – Heerenveen, Netherlands – The ISU World Cup is in Heerenveen this weekend and Jordan Stolz has his eye set on bringing home the gold. Stolz practiced Thursday afternoon at the Thialf, the Mecca for Speedskating in the Netherlands.
Cover photo courtesy Neeke Anna Wassenbergh-Smit
Stolz will kick off the weekend with a Friday afternoon skate in the 1500m. The track record (1:43,00) and world record (1:40,17) are held by Kjeld Nuis, 36, of the Netherlands.
Stolz will skate in the eighth pairing against another Dutch powerhouse Joep Wennemars. The 23-year-old has a personal best of 1:42,340 in the 1500m compared to Stolz who has a personal best of 1:40,480.
During the last World Cup in Calgary, Stolz took him a gold-medal finish with a time of 1:42,103.
In 2023 in Heerenveen, Stolz finished with 3 gold and became the first male speed skater to win three individual gold medals at a world single distances championships. Click HERE to watch the 1500-meter race.
Stolz crossed the finish in 1:43.59 beating the silver medalist Kjeld Nuis by .23
Click HERE for final results of the 1500-meter mens in Heerenveen
On Saturday, Stolz captured his second gold and another World Title at Heerenveen finishing the 1000 meter in 1:07.11.
Click HERE for the final mens 1000-meter results in Heerenveen
On Friday night, Stolz made history again and won gold in the 500-meter finishing with a time of 34.10 and set his first World Title on the weekend. Stolz is the youngest world single distance champion ever. Click HERE to watch the race.
On Saturday, December 6, 2025 – Stolz will skate the 1000m and Sunday he skates the mass start followed by the 500m.
Watch for full coverage at WashingtonCountyInsider.com
A funny little moment out of Calgary…
After the World Cup wrapped up in Calgary, speedskating legend and 2022 Olympic silver medalist Laurent Dubreuil of Canada was casually hanging out with his son, waiting for Jordan Stolz.
Dubreuil laughed as he admitted his son’s favorite skater isn’t dad… nope. It’s the kid from the USA. Tough break when you’re an Olympic medalist and still only the second-coolest skater in your own house.
Behind the scenes travel:
- It was a white-knuckle flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam. Forty minutes of turbulence midway through the 7-hour flight. It was so bad the pilot got on the speaker and ordered the crew to their jump seats. I bet you I said 400 Hail Marys at a minimum.
- The weather in Heerenveen is a mild 42 degrees and there are people on bicycles EVERYWHERE!
-The train from Amsterdam to Heerenveen was a slick 1.5 hours. At one point the rail car was flooded with students on their way to school. Start time was 9 a.m. They had lots in common with the U.S. including the fun-loving 6-7 fad, popular music Billy Eilish, they all enjoyed bicycling.
- A unique trend in fitness in Heerenveen – ‘Fit in 20 minutes per week.’ Wouldn’t that be lovely.
