Who is 17-year-old Jordan Stolz? A 'serious medal contender', speedskating legend Dan Jansen says
KEWASKUM, Wis. – Jordan Stolz, 17, short blond hair, easy smile, still growing into his lean 6-foot-3/4-inch frame, is running a bit late. Well, more like, a bit slow. The pancakes topped with blueberries and whipped cream sit on the counter, melting. He just got out of bed – it’s 1:30 p.m. – after being on the bike trainer at midnight the night before.
Turkeys, chickens and roosters in the henhouse warn the household of the intrusion of the arriving strange car and its driver. The boss of all the Sandhill cranes, Phantom, is not happy and fluffs his tail feathers, a tough guy with a warning. The swans in the back yard are indifferent, but the loudest, trumpeting their gossip that echoes off their heated reservoir.
Jordan hits the shower while his parents talk about China – what food should he bring, will he be allowed to watch the luge and bobsled, should they get him a second phone?
Dad raises his voice just a bit: Jordan, let’s go.
The soft response is immediate: OK. Fifteen minutes later, still no Jordan.
"He races really fast. Everything else he does is slow," laughs Dirk Stolz.
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It’s nice, this glimpse of normalcy in the warm kitchen of this family of four. Because everything else about Olympic long track speedskater Jordan Stolz’s life story is mind bending.
Apolo Ohno and a family dream
It started with the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, when Apolo Ohno earned a silver and two bronzes, surpassing Bonnie Blair-Cruikshank for most medals won by a U.S. Winter Olympian.
After 5-year-old Jordan watched on TV, he announced to Jane and Dirk: I want to do that.
Dirk and Jane Stolz are world travelers, big game hunters and anglers who did not want to live in the metropolises in which they work. Jane is a dental hygienist at O’Malley Dentistry in Greenfield; Dirk is a deputy for Washington County Sheriff’s Department. They built their house on a two-lane rural road north and west of Milwaukee, 45 minutes away – mostly because they wanted land. Their two-story house sits atop one of the classic Wisconsin country hills and overlooks forest and prairie. Water runs down the eastern side where a 20-foot deep pond freezes over from December to March.
Dirk plowed an oval path on the ice, shoveled off the loose shavings and put up lights since it gets dark at 4:30 p.m. in the winter. Jane took one look – every year it seems a handful of people die in Wisconsin falling through thin ice – and declared there would be no skating on that.
"Yeah, that’s about what she said," laughed Hannah.
But the Stolzs are adventurers and outdoors people. The family started skating, including Jordan’s sister Hannah, who is one year older. The kids starting putting more mileage on their skates in this pond under the big sky, more than any car would on the nearest road.
But deep down, Jordan wanted to beat them. Soon after, Jordan lined up for his first ever race at the Pettit National Ice Center in the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis, one of just 30 400-meter speed skating ovals in the world.
Jane did the things moms do: support her kids, with practicality. Speedskating is expensive.
She called around for second-hand club ice skates.
"He’s got the weird helmet, it’s actually a Spiderman bike helmet – everything was Spiderman back then," said Jane. "Those are just knee pads from Dunham’s. We did get him a skin suit, though."
Look at the seriousness of Jordan’s face at the start line, bent over, arm thrown back, eyes focused, and it is clear their lives would all change right here. Millions of kids watch the Olympics and dream; little Jordan plotted and planned.
"I kind of had a feeling we would go down this road," said Dirk. "The competitiveness with each other – and then they started racing – I could already see it in a young age. And a couple of coaches said, ‘He’s got some potential.’"
The next decade was filled with dedication from everyone. Jane worked part time so she could drive Jordan to area ice rinks, and eventually the Pettit became a second home. Dirk took third shift patrol duty, working from 9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m., to also help with the 90-minute round-trip commute. Jordan and Hannahstarted practicing five, six days a week and worked up to 15-20 races a year all over the U.S.
"We are a family that gets in the car and drives a lot," said Hannah.
But home ice was the best. Jeff Brand started coaching Stolz at the Pettit.
"For New Year’s, Jeff would put on a 100-lap marathon at the Pettit for anyone who wanted to join," said Jane. "At age 7 or 8, Jordan did 67, 76 laps, 400-meter laps, he just kept going like an energized bunny. One adult skater used to call him Flash Jordan."
2019 and still under the radar
When Jordan was 15, potential turned in to reality. Only a few people knew it. He made or topped the podium in several junior national races and also excelled at the speedskater’s twin sport, cycling. Stolz was also a top five overall finisher at Tour of America’s Dairyland, an 11-stage road race that draws cyclists from all over the U.S.
While training, Jordan was a monster on his Wilier bike, flying down hills at 58 miles per hour. He was turning into a real speed freak in everything. On the ice he is credited with going 37 mph on TV, but he can get to 40 with his torque on a corner.
2020: A workout warrior
The 2020 season started off strong with races in Switzerland and the Youth Olympics where he was fifth in the world. That 500 meters on Lake St. Moritz was brutally cold, just like home. He did well at the World Junior Championships and Junior World Cup as well.
Then in March of 2020 the world shut down because of COVID-19. His season – except time trials – was canceled. It could have set Jordan back, but he pulled esteemed coach Bob Corby out of any thoughts of retirement to work with him. A sweet-demeanor man with soft spoken praise, Corby is, deep down, a fierce competitor, and his workouts are beastly. Also transforming.
Jordan embraced the sheer suckiness of training because at 15, he was starting to visualize himself at the Olympics.
Single leg squats are tough. They require balance and strength, flexibility and patience. Jordan grabs a 50-pound bag of sand – for a little instability to boot – and does 200 to 300 on the right leg. Then the left. This kind of endurance strength training begs hamstrings for help, burdens the hip flexors and leaves the quadriceps on fire. Some people spend their whole lives avoiding this kind of pain. Jordan embraced the burn of tiny microscopic tears, only to heal stronger than before.
"I guess you could say I kind of got addicted to trying to get stronger," said Stolz. "I just did pretty much everything I could to get as strong as I could."
Corby’s plan of sprints, strength training, slide board also blended in with Jordan’s rest and recovery and all of it was focused on his core and lower body. Jordan was made into a palm tree basically, foundational and powerful at his roots and base, but loose and flowing through the shoulders. Perfect for speedskating.
"That’s why he got so good. He was always a good skater. But he hadn’t done a full, hard training program, specifically for skating," said Corby.
March 2021 and a star is born
When racing finally resumed in March 2021 in Salt Lake City, Utah, at U.S. Championships, Stolz had been skating 35-second 500-meter races and then he started lowering that time.
"To skate 34.9 at the U.S Championships, and then win it, was pretty special," said Corby.
From October to December, especially, his times plummeted: 34.31 at the Salt Lake race of the World Cup series where he broke his own junior world record. And then 34.11 a week later in Calgary.
He overcame little glitches, too. In the 1000 meters at Salt Lake, Stolz skated a 1:07.03 because he had to zipper up his suit twice. While racing. Jordan didn’t flinch and his time is a junior world record. His 2021 World Cup finishes moved Stolz into the A group in the 500 and 1000, with the top 20 skaters in the world.
This was unexpected. Male speedskaters often hit their peak in their mid-20s. On the first 500 that Jordan won, the second-place racer was Austin Kleba, 26, and the next guy was 31.
For support and encouragement, Stolz can rely on Shani Davis, a two-time Olympic gold medalist. Jordan stays at Davis’ house in Salt Lake while training and racing with the U.S. team. Davis, another Pettit alum, has been great to Stolz – to the gratitude of Dirk and Jane – and someone Jordan can talk to about all things, especially skating.
Olympic trials on home ice
Now, West Allis, Wisconsin is no Netherlands, but they do value their speed skaters thanks to Bonnie Blair, Dan Jansen, Eric Heiden and all the Olympians who followed. The state marked the U.S. Long Track Olympic Trials on its January calendars. Even with the Green Bay Packers the No. 1 seed in the NFC and the Milwaukee Bucks impressively defending their NBA title, the skating races over five days were sold out, or nearly so. People were going to watch this new kid, Jordan, as well as Bonnie and Dave Cruikshank’s daughter, Blair.. It was going to be a party.
Omicron ruined everything – again. The latest wave of the COVID-19 virus ripped through the community with record-setting positive cases.
The U.S. trials went on, but crowds were turned away, including family. For a minute, Dirk was locked out.
Jane was already planning to be there as a volunteer and Dirk got a last-minute assistance job with the ice and Zamboni for two of the races before they were asked to stay home. They got to see their son make history.
Jordan Stolz won the 1000 meters in 1:07.62, and broke Davis’ Pettit track record that stood for 15 years.
And then on the following day Stolz won the 500 in 34.56, also a track record.
"I tried a whole bunch of times to break that track record. And now, little Jordan – well, he's not little anymore – he breaks, like not even breaks it. He destroys it. I'm really happy," Davis told Olympics.com.
Whoo boy, did that get everyone’s attention. The Pettit is at sea level, just as the Oval is in Beijing.
"He is a serious, serious medal contender," said Jansen.
Stolz was happy, confident and measured with his comments after the race, but lacking in bravado. He can sometimes look a bit like Princess Diana’s first son, William, in his younger days; tall, but leaned forward, as if trying to bow away from too much praise. But deep down, he’s plotting with Corby; how can he shave a few tenths off his time?
Jordan will race the 500 and 1000 in Beijing.
COVID, the Olympics and China
Back at his house a week before his departure for Los Angeles to meet up with American Olympians, Stolz finally emerges from the stairway, light on his feet, silent. He nods hello. He’s been biking late at night to try to get his body ready for the 14-hour time difference in Beijing. The pancakes are now cold. The teen digs in … slowly.
The first step is clearing China’s protocols. They have a zero-tolerance COVID policy and that means a ton of questions.
"To me, as an athlete, you want the best skaters on the ice," said Bonnie Blair-Cruikshank, whose daughter tested positive for COVID and was held out of trials. "I hope that everyone's healthy and the best skaters are on the ice. And that means making it to China, testing negative to get on the airplane to even go there."
Jordan has never been to China. He will leave his home, his parents, Corby and support system at Pettit. China is not allowing fans to attend the Games. The U.S. speedskaters are kind of used to that, said Blair-Cruikshank, racing in front of empty seats.
"He's also a kid. He's got that going for him. That probably helps a little bit," said Blair-Cruikshank.
What he doesn’t know, he won’t miss.
Thankfully the U.S. Speedskating team and staff will be there with Jordan, even if some of the skaters are twice his age, and in entirely different stages of life.
"It's not like he has nobody yelling split times. He'll have help there. It'll just be different," said Jansen.
There will be time to adapt before his races Feb. 12 and 18. But still, it’s hard not to focus on how young he is. He looks like he’s cut his hands with his skate blades far more often than he’s nicked his face while shaving. Jordan is the third-youngest American man to compete in the Olympics in long track speed skating behind Heiden and Emery Lehman, who were also 17 in their first Games.
But it also means Stolz will not be a high maintenance athlete.
"As long as I get food, and I am able to prepare for the race good, that’s all that really matters," said Jordan.
"As long as I’m not being kept awake at night, or bothered, or having different eating hours – just good sleep and good preparation for the races, good practice is important. If I get good practice ice – that’s all I really need."
It all makes Jansen feels bad for the kid, really. This will be the first Olympics Jansen will miss in person in 30-plus years.
"That's half the excitement," said Jansen. "He probably hasn't experienced the Netherlands for the senior races. When there's 12,000-15,000 people in the arena, as an American in the sport, that's the only place you're going to get that – and the Olympics.
"To have the Olympics feel like, you know, you're at home with nobody in the stands is just sad."
This is also Corby's first Olympics in forever where he won’t be in attendance. He worries – what if a skate breaks, what if there’s an injury – but pushes those thoughts out of his mind and holds it together for Jordan.
"If everything goes smoothly, he'll be OK, he's this pretty cool character for 17 years old," said Corby.
"The only thing I am really worried about is when he gets in China. Is it still going to be OK? Because I've had a couple of people tell me he's got to download this app or that app so I can talk to him. We use WhatsApp – will that still work? I don't really care if the president of China is listening. I couldn't care less, but I need to talk to Jordan."
Dirk and Jane feel the same way. It’s surreal sometimes. A family that is this close and does everything together will now have to trust technology and the support of others to help Jordan.
"It’s really disappointing, not to go, because this could be once-in-a-lifetime event," said Dirk. "Not being able to witness him racing is heartbreaking."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Beijing Olympics: Speedskater Jordan Stolz, 17, is a medal contender
