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Growing up in Wisconsin, it was relatively easy for Jordan Stolz to get into speed skating.
Water is frozen early and often in the frozen tundra, making the Midwest something of a hockey hotbed.
But watching Apollo Anton Ohno as a child, the direction was natural for the 21-year-old.
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Gold medalist Jordan Stolz of the United States celebrates after the men’s 500-meter speed skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (Ben Curtis/AP)
In February, he fulfilled the dream by taking home not one, but two Olympic gold medals.
Of course winning one is a success, but with three other medal events it wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to celebrate.
“Yeah, it’s pretty tough,” Stolz told Pakinomist Digital in a recent interview. “I mean I wanted to celebrate, but actually I was really focused on the 500 (meters) because it’s only one day off and then the 500 final.”
Stolz’s first gold came in the 1,000 meters, but the pressure was on to win another in the 500.
“I kind of felt like I really needed to win the 500. So I didn’t mess around at all,” he said. “So I wouldn’t say it was hard not to celebrate, but to compete throughout the game time, it got a little difficult, especially with the 1,500, and the minute I start, there’s a lot of time in between. There’s also things that can get messed up.”
Jordan Stolz celebrates with his gold medal on the podium in the men’s 1,000 meters speed skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, on February 11, 2026. (Photo Luca Bruno/AP)
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It took a lifetime of training both on and off the ice for Stolz to bring home the hardware, as what goes into Stolz’s body may be more important than what he does on the rink. Recognizing this importance, he also makes sure that his cat, Mitzi, a stray who showed up on his front porch looking for food when Stolz was a preteen, gets a similar nutritional treatment with Nulo food.
“I’m so careful about what I put in my body. Now I just eat, you know, kind of horrible food and don’t really pay attention and it’s like, man, I kind of crave garbage,” Stolz said. So it’s like, I’m getting a taste of what it’s like, you know, poor quality food. So Mitzi, I don’t want her to eat poor nutrition because she doesn’t even have a choice, right? It’s up to me to give her the right one. So that’s why I choose to give him a Nulo.’
While Stolz accomplished his goal, there is much more work to be done. And he doesn’t actually have to wait until 2030 to do it.
Jordan Stolz of the United States warms up for the men’s 1,000-meter speed skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Ben Curtis/AP)
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“I’ll keep training until the next Olympics,” Stolz said. “Do some world championships, world championships and we’ll see what I can do.
“I might try, you know, a little bit of track cycling this summer, maybe in the LA ’28’s on the table, but we’ll see.”
