February 21, 2026 – Milan, Italy – There’s a familiar face working on the ice at the Olympic skating rink in Milan, Italy. Paul Golomski is part of a team with a big assignment: build ice worthy of history.
Golomski is helping prepare the speedskating surface and he praises his work mates in the effort.
“I work with Mark Messer, Matt Messer, Brendan Vance, from Canada and some of the best ice makers in the world,” Golomski said. “So, it’s been an honor to work with the team here. And, we got a few more days left. Hopefully, we can break some more records.”
Skaters have been calling it fast ice, even at sea level, a detail that usually puts a ceiling on record chatter. But Golomski said speed is only part of the mission.
“Ultimately, we’re here to make a surface that’s fair for everybody, that is consistent, safe,” he said. “But the end goal is to make it fast. We want to see Olympic records and, you know, to come over here and do that with Mark and Matt and Brendan, it’s awesome. We’re a small team and then we’ve got Enzo as one of our operators here in Italy. So, it’s a small group doing big things here.”
The work began months ago.
“Mark and the team here had put ice in early November and then I came over with Andy Arty from Calgary and we handled the ice preparation for the test event in November,” Golomski said. “That went well. But there was a lot to learn.”
Automation systems needed tweaks. Conditions had to be built and rebuilt. Consistency became the mantra.
“Mark’s ultimate end goal is that the ice is the same temperature for every competitor,” he said. “And that’s really hard to do from a technical standpoint. I think he’s been able to deliver. We’ve got a great group that’s been rehearsing on ice with ice resurfacers for almost a month now. So, yeah, we’re just thrilled with it. It’s been a great time.”
Among those praising the surface are American skaters, including Jordan Stolz and his coach Bob Corby.
“Yeah, I’ve talked with Jordan and Bob Corby,” Golomski said. “They said some really nice things to us to the press or about us. So yeah, we’ve been able to just chat briefly, but they’re all business here. They’ve got a goal to accomplish. We’ve got our goals to accomplish and then at the end of the day, I’m here to make a fair surface for everybody, but at the end of the day inside, I’m hoping Jordan wins.”
For Golomski, the Olympics are rather personal, since he has known Stolz since the skater was a child training back in Wisconsin.
“I’ve known Jordan and his family since he was like 6 years old,” he said. “Jordan, Shani Davis and even Ethan Cepuran and Emery Lehman, to see them grow up through the Pettit Center and now all of a sudden they’re at the Olympic Games, it just makes all the efforts that the Pettit Center team does, we work really hard to develop the sport and give kids opportunities.”
Watching Stolz strike gold brought the emotion to the surface.
“To see that come full circle is amazing,” Golomski said. “It’s really emotional for me to see Jordan win the medals. When he won that 1000m, I was just beside myself. It was really neat to see. I was having trouble keeping my composure just knowing how hard he worked. It’s pretty awesome.”
