On February 11, 2026, Jordan Stolz, an American long-track speed skater, won a gold medal in the 1000 meters with an Olympic record time of 1:06.28. This was his first race of the Olympics.
As a child, he skated with his older sister, Hannah Stolz, all the time.
In the Netherlands, Norway, and Germany, the 21-year-old Wisconsin native is well-known, and spectators swarm stadiums to watch him compete. He was, nevertheless, virtually unknown in America.
He made his international debut by skating in the first of his four Olympic events. He won his first Olympic gold medal by beating a lot of other skaters in the men’s 1,000 meters.
He shattered a 24-year-old Olympic record set at a high altitude before he was even born with his winning time of 1:06.28.
The gold medal is a way for Stolz to prove himself and for America to meet him.
I was hoping to be pretty even with him at the 600 and then get him in the last lap, but he was ahead. So I was a little worried that he could possibly win. I threw two arms down and attacked as hard as I could. I was able to reel him in on that last corner.
Jordan Stolz
Jordan Stolz’s Sister Is Doing Great While Making Her Own Way In The Competitive World
Jordan Stolz shocked the speed skating world by winning three gold medals at the 2023 World Junior Speed Skating Championships.
When he was a kid in West Bend, Wisconsin, he and his older sister Hannah Stolz were always together on the ice.
Eight-year-old Hannah was right next to five-year-old Jordan when he begged to try speed skating after seeing Apolo Anton Ohno in 2010.
Dirk, their father, even put lights around the pond in the backyard so the kids could skate after dark. He said that the family would do short track until Jordan and Hannah “got too fast.”
I was always afraid they could drown. Dirk kept saying the ice was thick enough, but I was not willing to risk it. So they kept the life jackets on until he drilled a hole, and we could see it was several feet thick. After that, I finally felt okay, and in the next couple of days, they were able to take them off.
Jane Stolz
Jordan kept going for world records, but Hannah found her place in the family business.
She became a taxidermist who worked mostly with birds.She now runs Windy Hills Waterfowl in southeastern Wisconsin, which is home to 85 different kinds of birds from all over the world. There are ducks, pheasants, and other exotic birds in her workshop that have been preserved with great care.
In July 2023, she won the National Taxidermy Championships. In August of the next year, she came in third in the non-game bird division at the World Taxidermy Championships.
The sister who used to race with Jordan now competes on a different kind of world stage, and she is doing well there too.
In case You Didn’t Know
- Dirk and Jane Stolz, Jordan Stolz’s parents, met in a taxidermy shop and ran their own taxidermy business.
- Jordan Stolz starts his bid for four gold medals by winning the 1,000-meter speedskating race.
- He is from Germany.
