Jordan Stolz returned to China and, this time, he finished his racing as the world’s undisputed No. 1.
The 20-year-old speedskating superstar and reigning World champion and Allround champion from Kewaskum made a triumphant return to Beijing last weekend, to the same oval where he made his pandemic-era Olympic debut 2⅟₂ years ago.
Stolz won in the 500 meters, the 1,000 and the 1,500 events over the post-Thanksgiving racing weekend, holding off an impressive Dutch challenger in the process. But really, Stolz’s entire mini-tour of China and Japan over the past three weeks has been a show of dominance.
Stolz got even faster and dropped his time in the 500, something he wanted to do since he kicked off the season a month and a half ago at the US Long Track Championships in Milwaukee.
He also set six track records in three cities in two countries.
He stuffed his suitcase with nine gold medals in his individual events, crushing it in the sprint events and still holding on strong in the middle-distance 1,500.
“He just keeps winning,” his coach, Bob Corby said in a text message from China.
Here’s a recap:
Last weekend in China, at the second International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup race of the season, Stolz got his 500 race down to a season best 34.27 seconds, which also set a track record at the National Speed Skating Oval (The Ice Ribbon). It was his first time back at The Ice Ribbon since February 2022, when he made his Olympic debut.
He then set a track record in the 1,000 in 1.07.62 as well.
He completed the unique gold-medal hat trick by also taking first place in the 1,500. On the final day, he raced the 500 again, and won, again.
Stolz edged out Jenning De Boo from the Netherlands (34.39) and Tatsuya Shinhama of Japan (34.44) in the first 500 race. Stolz has been concentrating on dropping his times at this super-sprint distance after spending all of last season racing at multiple distances – short, medium and long – to claim the prestigious World Allround title in March.
De Boo, the European champ in the 500, took second to Stolz in the 1,000 as well. He is the same age as Stolz and could be a formidable challenger this World Cup season in the sprints.
Stolz’s China podium finishes are important for a couple of reasons.
Last year, he opted not to race in China – and by skipping that World Cup, he was forced to race in the B division in the following race. It didn’t hurt him in any way in terms of his goals – he still set a world record, he still won the Allround.
But this year he decided to go to China to avoid the B division again.
One of Stolz’s goals is to do well in the overall ISU rankings, as that is one of the few titles he hasn’t won yet.
The last time Stolz was in Beijing, it was a challenging experience. The Games were under strict lock-down measures due to the pandemic and Stolz was only the third U.S. male speedskater to make the Olympic team at the age of 17. He finished 13th in the 500 and 14th in the 1,000 at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
At the ISU World Cup race No. 1 in Japan on Nov. 22-24, Stolz set two track records at Nagano Olympic Memorial Arena M-WAVE where he earned a 1,000 time of 1.07.18. He got the 1,500 track record of 1.43.65 as well.
He also rounded out his very unique three-event stint by sweeping with a gold medal in the 500, winning both race attempts.
Stolz broke the 1,000 track record that Tatsuya Shinhama of Japan had set at the Japanese national championships last month. 
He was also a full second ahead of the second-place finisher, De Boo, in the 1,000. De Boo told the ISU media team he didn’t really know what to expect in the matchup with Stolz. 
“I was a bit nervous. It’s hard to figure out how to skate against someone like him,” De Boo told the ISU. “I have to be satisfied. He’s a second ahead of me, I’m not there yet. I see it as a challenge. At the moment I’m not good enough to catch him, so there’s work to be done, and I do like the process of progression.”
Three weeks ago, Stolz began his road trip by taking three golds again in the two sprints – 500 and 1,000 – and the middle distance 1,500 event of the ISU Four Continents event.
He left with two track records as well at the YS Arena with a time of 1.08.04 in the 1,000 and 1.44.45 in the 1,500.
Stolz was also part of the gold-medal Team Pursuit 8-lap race.
In other words, Stolz won … everything and that’s leading to some streaks.
He won four races at a single speedskating World Cup for a fourth consecutive stop, running his streaks to 12 victories in a row on the circuit dating to last season and 16 in a row if counting strictly his primary events of the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 – according to NBC Sports.
By winning the 500 and 1,500 last Friday, the 1,000 last Saturday and another 500 on Sunday, Stolz was the fastest skater in every sprint-to-medium race. He did the same thing the week before in Japan.
That means Stolz won his last seven World Cup starts in the 500.
According to NBC Sports and Speedskatingstats, Canadian Jeremy Wotherspoon owns the men’s World Cup records for total individual victories (67) and 500 victories (42), and had a best 500 win streak of eight starts in a row on two separate occasions. The International Skating Union has not confirmed the historical streaks, NBC said.
The World Cup races take this month off and resumes in January.
Last week, West Allis native and Olympic gold medalist Dan Jansen talked to the Journal Sentinel for another story about Stolz. But he remarked on how well Stolz is racing now and how special he is, and how he might share some similarities with Jansen himself and multiple event-medalist Eric Heiden of Madison.
“I did have, I guess, a feel for the ice that, that’s really hard to describe to somebody who’s not a skater,” Jansen said. “But Jordan has taken that to another level.
“If there’s a comparison, it’s that with me, but also maybe more so Eric Heiden, with his versatility with the fact that he can skate not only 1,500 but obviously 5,000, which he did last year. That’s insane. So, yeah, he’s way beyond me, especially at that age.
“It’s been really fun so far to watch, and I just hope that he stays healthy, because there’s no skater from any country out there in our sport that, you know, that isn’t watching this kid going, ‘my God, how do we beat him.’ ”

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