Jordan Stolz Sets Record In 1,000-Meter Speedskating Event

Jordan Stolz of Team USA set a new record in the 2026 Winter Olympics in the 1,000-meter speedskating event.

He finished the event in just 1:06.28. This is 1 second faster than the previous Olympic record. He also holds the world record, set at the World Championships in 2024. 

Stolz is just 21 years old. He was just five years old during the 2010 Winter Olympics. Stolz saw Apolo Anton Ohno and Shani Davis of Team USA compete in a speedskating event, which piqued Stolz’s interest. Ohno won bronze medals in the 1,000-meter and 5,000-meter relay events. Davis took home a gold medal in the 1,000-meter event and a silver medal in the 1,500 -meter event. 

As a child, Stolz set records in the 500-meter, 1,000-meter, 1,500-meter and mini combination events. The mini combination event combines jumping with cross-country. 

Along with his adult record in the 1,000-meter event, he also holds the record in the big combination event. The big combination event is just like the mini one, with a mix of jumping and cross-country. However, competitors need to jump higher and skate further. 

The “Adelskalender” ranks speedskaters based on their career accomplishments. This system currently has Stolz ranked first with 143.897 points. In this ranking, the lower your score, the better. The closest speedskater to Stolz is Patrick Roest of the Netherlands, who has a 143.985 rating.

Stolz still has to compete in the 500-meter, 1,500-meter, and mass-start events. In the mass start event, all 24 speedskaters start at the exact same time and complete 16 laps in the race. Some have compared this event to NASCAR if NASCAR were on snowy mountains.