At the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Jordan Stolz’s pursuit of making history as the first male long track speedskater in 32 years to win three gold medals at a single Games came to an unexpected halt during the sport’s final event, the men’s mass start. Stolz, a 21-year-old speedskater from Wisconsin, had already dazzled the crowd with two gold medals in the 500-meter and 1,000-meter races, followed by a silver in the 1,500 meters. However, his hopes for a third gold were dashed when he finished fourth in the mass start, a race dominated by the experienced Dutch skater Jorrit Bergsma, who, at 40 years old, became the oldest Olympic gold medalist in speedskating history.
The mass start unfolded in a surprising manner. Early in the race, Bergsma and Denmark’s Viktor Hald Thorup broke away from the pack, establishing a lead that no one else in the field seemed eager to chase down. Stolz, positioned among the chasing group, expected that someone would attempt to reel in the leaders. But as laps passed, no one took up the chase. “They all expected me to chase, but I wasn’t going to do that,” Stolz explained after the race. “If I had chased with five laps to go, I would have just blown myself up. I thought the other guys would be a bit more hungry to do it, but I guess they didn’t want to.” This lack of initiative from Stolz’s competitors essentially handed Bergsma and Thorup the opportunity to fight for gold and silver, while the rest of the skaters battled for the remaining podium spot.
In the final sprint, Andrea Giovannini of Italy edged out Stolz to claim the bronze medal, leaving Stolz just off the podium. Giovannini had gained attention during the Games for his playful “Night night” gesture, inspired by basketball star Steph Curry, when helping Italy upset the favored United States in the men’s team pursuit. Stolz’s coach, Bob Corby, was blunt in his assessment of the race, calling it “the stupidest race I’ve ever seen in my life.” Corby criticized the peloton’s strategy, saying, “The whole peloton decided, like, ‘Well, let’s race for the bronze medal.’ So dumb.” The unconventional tactics and unexpected passivity by the chasing group left Stolz and his team frustrated.
Before the Olympics, there had been considerable buzz about Stolz’s potential to win four gold medals, an incredibly rare feat in Olympic speedskating. The last male skater to win three golds at a single Winter Games was Johann Olav Koss at Lillehammer in 1994. Stolz was asked about this possibility after his two early victories, but after earning silver in the 1,500 meters, he was less certain about his form and performance. “I didn’t have it today. Not sure why,” he said after that race. His performance in the mass start confirmed that he did not have the energy or perhaps the race strategy to secure a third gold.
Despite the disappointing finish in the mass start, Stolz’s overall performance at these Games was highly impressive, especially given his youth and relative inexperience. At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, when he was only 17, Stolz finished 13th and 14th in his events. This time around, his two golds and a silver mark a significant leap forward. Reflecting on the Games, Stolz described his experience as “pretty successful,” acknowledging room for improvement but expressing overall satisfaction. Coach Bob Corby echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that winning the 1,500 meters would have been ideal, but that Stolz had “almost accomplished everything that we wanted to do.”
Jorrit Bergsma’s gold medal in the men’s mass start added to his remarkable Olympic legacy. The Dutch skater, who had previously won bronze in the 10,000 meters earlier in these Games, now boasts a total of five Olympic medals, including a gold from the 2014 Sochi Olympics in the 10,000 meters. His victory in the mass start was a display of experience and tactical skill. After splitting from Thorup in the final laps, Bergsma managed to build a lead sufficient to coast across the finish line, even taking the time to