MILAN — Jordan Stolz’s run for the speedskating triple crown came up short in the 1,500 meters Thursday, with the American settling for silver behind China’s Ning Zhongyan at the Milan-Cortina Games.
Ning set an Olympic record, blazing the oval at Milano Speed Skating Stadium in 1 minute and 41.98 seconds. Stolz, who won gold in the 500 and 1,000 meters to become the first U.S. man to win in both distances in the same Olympic Games since 1980, had the fastest finishing kick of the top eight skaters, but reached for the line 0.77 of a second behind Ning at 1:42.75.
Stolz was the top-ranked racer in the 1,500-meter distance and raced in the final pair. Watching the speedskating superstar, Ning clasped his hands in prayer during the final race. When the final time flashed across the screen, his coach held Ning’s hands in the air. He began to sob. The 26-year-old earned his first Olympic gold medal after earning bronze in the 1,000 and the team pursuit.
Hoping to win four gold medals in Milan, Stolz still has an opportunity to add a third in the mass start on Saturday.
MILAN — Before the final competitors hit the last turn, Jordan Stolz’s coach was already unfolding a U.S. flag.
The 21-year-old speedskating star won his second Olympic medal of the Milan-Cortina Games, setting an Olympic record in the 500 meters on Saturday at 33.77 seconds. He edged out the Nedtherlands’ Jenning de Boo, who was paired with Stolz and finished 0.11 seconds behind the U.S. star. Canada’s Laurent Debreuril took bronze at 34.26 seconds, which also stood as the Olympic record for three pairs before Stolz blazed through Milano Speed Skating Stadium.
Stolz is attempting an ambitious four-event program at the Milan-Cortina Games and already won the 1,000-meter gold medal this week. He will also compete in the 1,500 meters and the team pursuit.
Stolz is the first U.S. man to win the 500 meter at the Olympics since Joey Cheek in 2006. He is the first U.S. man to win gold in the 500 and 1,000 at the same Olympics since Eric Heiden in 1980.
He took a victory lap around the arena as red, white and blue-clad fans chanted “U-S-A!” Even the Dutch fans, forming a wall of bright orange all around the racing oval, clapped in admiration as Stolz held the U.S. flag above his head.
Gold medalist Jordan Stolz of the United States, center, celebrates on the podium with silver medalist Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands, left, and bronze medalist Laurent Dubreuil of Canada after the men’s 500 meters in speedskating at Winter Games on Saturday.
MILAN — Brittany Bowe will bow out of the Olympics without a medal in her best event.
A four-time Olympian who said the Milan-Cortina Games will be her last, Bowe was edged off the podium in the final pair of the speed skating 1,000-meter race Monday, finishing fourth with a time of one minute and 14.55 seconds. Japan’s Miho Takagi bumped the 37-year-old American out of third place with a time of one minute, 13.59 seconds.
The Netherlands’ Jutta Leerdam set an Olympic record to win gold, clocking in at one minute, 12.31 seconds. She bested her own teammates’ Olympic record set minutes before to push Femke Kok down to silver.
Kok clapped with a resigned look on her face after Leerdam’s time flashed on the screen. Black mascara stained Leerdam’s cheeks as she skated around the arena, saluting the legion of Dutch fans that filled the stands at Milano Speed Skating Stadium. Her fiance, YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, was in the stands and moved to tears.
Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands celebrates winning the gold medal in the women’s 1,000-meter speedskating race at the Winter Olympics in Milan on Monday.
(Luca Bruno / Associated Press)
Erin Jackson, the 2022 Olympic gold medalist in the 500 meters who was skating through three herniated discs in her lower back, finished sixth. Racing in the 1,000 meters for the first time in her Olympic career, she clapped cordially at the end of the race. Bowe, who set the world record in the 1,000 meters in 2019, hugged her coaches before disappearing off the ice.
Already longtime friends, the Americans became inextricably linked in 2022. Bowe gave up her qualifying spot in the 500 meters for the Beijing Olympics after Jackson slipped during the U.S. Olympic trials. Bowe had already qualified in other disciplines. She knew Jackson had potential to win a medal. The decision to relinquish her spot was easy, she said at the time.
Jackson made the sacrifice worth it, becoming the first Black woman to win an individual gold medal in the Winter Olympics. Bowe, who still raced in the 500 meters after an additional spot became free, finished 16th.
Bowe instead relied on her top event, the 1,000 meters, for her chance at the podium. The world record holder in the event — which she set in 2019 — won bronze in Beijing for her first individual Olympic medal.
American Erin Jackson competes in the women’s 1,000-meter speedskating race at the Winter Olympics in Milan on Monday.
(Luca Bruno / Associated Press)
But the experience felt “empty,” Bowe said in retrospect. With empty stands during the pandemic-affected Games, Bowe missed the energy of the crowd and especially her family and friends.
Bowe wasn’t lacking for crowd noise Monday. The oval was encircled by a ring of orange. Dutch fans roared every time one of their competitors zoomed by. Even when Kok and Leerdam were warming up, gliding by at a snail’s pace compared to skaters during their race, the crowd cheered. They waved in acknowledgment.
When Kok crossed the finish line, she raised both fists triumphantly. Her time of one minute, 12.59 seconds was good enough for the Olympic record, but Leerdam blazed past her only two pairs later.
Bowe and Jackson will still race in Jackson’s specialty of the 500 meters, while Bowe will finish her Olympic career in the 1,500 meters.
