MILAN, Italy — Jordan Stolz resumes his chase for four Olympic gold medals when he competes in the 500 meters at the 2026 Winter Games Saturday, Feb.14.
He’s also chasing a legend, Eric Heiden, who in 1980 became the only person to win five gold medals in a single Winter Olympics.
While Stolz, 21, can’t win five at these Games, he is cementing his status as a legendary speed skater right alongside Heiden. And no man is better suited to compare the two than Bob Corby, who once skated against and trained with Heiden and now coaches Stolz.
“Heiden was probably even a little bit stronger and he was just so powerful,’ Corby told USA TODAY Sports. ‘He just hammered through things like that.
“And Jordan has so much speed that he’s actually equaling Heiden as far as being a phenomenon in the three shorter distances in 500, 1,000 and 1,500.’
Jordan’s speed and endurance were on display in the 1,000 when in the final 400 meters he overcame a 0.4 second deficit and set an Olympic record with a time of 1:06.28.
He’ll be tested again in the 500 — and draw on a variety of things that propel him on the ice.
Jordan Stolz’ wicked engine
Bonnie Blair, the five-time Olympic gold medalist who competed in the Winter Olympics between 1984 and 1994, said she regularly watches Stolz train at the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee.
‘He can do just a crazy amount of laps,’ she said.
What makes it more impressive, according to Blair, is Stolz has no one to push him. By contrast, Blair said, she trained with Olympians such as Dan Jansen, Nick Thometz and her husband, Dave Cruikshank.
‘They could bring me to speeds I could never imagine going on my own,’ Blair said. ‘Jordan doesn’t have that. He’s doing that all on his own, but he’s doing it time after day after day.’
That leads to what Blair calls Stolz’s ‘wicked engine.’
‘The engine is to be able to go for a longer time and pretty consistent lap times,’ she said. “Then there’s the power that can come with it that you need for the sprint aspect.’
Stolz’s tempo also is striking, according to Blair, who cited the last 250 meters of Stolz’s gold-medal winning performance in the 1,000m on Wednesday, Feb. 11.
“A lot of athletes, I feel when they go into a turn they’re trying to hit it the right way,’ she said. ‘I feel like they sometimes downshift because they take these longer powerful strokes going in. And Jordan takes more of a quick 1, 2, 3 to get into the turn, and then he just keeps that motor going through the turn and really accelerates coming out.
‘But it’s hard to accelerate coming out of a 1,000 on the last corner, and that’s what he did. It was a crazy good race.’
Checking all the boxes
Shani Davis, a retired speed skater and a four-time Olympic medalist, cites genetics.
Stolz is 6-1 and about 180 pounds.
‘One of his biggest assets is his (body) structure,’ Davis said. ‘He is the right height, he’s a great weight.’
Not only does Stolz possess the optimal body, but he also capitalizes on it.
‘He just has a physical strength that a lot of people don’t have and he’s able to fit at angles that are really deep and low,’ Davis said. ‘He’s able to get great extension and he’s putting a great amount of power force pressure through the push into the ice that’s creating this amazing turnover to speed.’
The checklist for great skaters includes technique, strength, endurance and speed, according to Davis.
‘I feel like Jordan checks all those boxes,’ he said. ‘There’s no Achilles heel with him. And you’re seeing that more and more.’
‘Pretty phenomenal combination’
Corby, Stolz’s coach, said success starts with excellent and efficient technique.
‘You’re constantly putting in pressure into the ice as you’re moving it 40 mph. And that’s very hard to do. If your foot starts to tail off back behind you, you just really have a tough time generating speed’ Corby said. ‘He has really excellent technique both in the straightaways and in the corners. And so that’s one of the things that makes him fast.’
But the hidden factor is Stolz’s legs, according to Corby.
“He looks like a slender hit athlete, but you can’t believe how strong his legs are,’ Corby said. ‘That’s the hidden component.
“You can see their technique, but you can’t tell how much force they’re putting into the ice. And that’s what he does. He has extremely strong legs and really excellent technique. So it’s a pretty phenomenal combination.’