American speed skating phenom Jordan Stolz skated to his third medal of the 2026 Winter Olympics Thursday, taking silver in the 1500m behind China’s Ning Zhongyan.
His first two prizes, both gold and both won in Olympic record time, came in the 500m and 1000m.
Stolz posted the fifth-fastest opening split of the field — a typical start for the 21-year-old phenom, known for having the best last lap in the world. In three of his five 1500m wins on the World Cup this season, he entered the final lap of the race behind. In a fourth, he led by a mere 0.01 seconds.
He seemed to struggle more than usual in Thursday’s race, however, finding himself 1.35 seconds behind leader Ning ahead of the final 400 meters. He cut over half a second off that deficit by the end, a significant margin in a sport often decided by one-hundredths of a second, skating up from 4th to 2nd by the time he crossed the finish line.Â
“I thought I could probably beat [Nin’gs time], but when I saw the first split with 25.4, then I was attacking as hard as I could,” Stolz said after the race. “I thought it was going to be close, but he was just better.”
Stolz’s final time of 1 minute, 42.75 seconds was slower than four of his 1500m races on this year’s World Cup, including the most recent contest in Inzell, Germany (1:41.958). His winning times in the 500m and 1000m in Milan were half a second faster than the marks he posted in Inzell.
Still, his silver makes him the only American so far to claim three medals at the 2026 Games. It’s the first time a U.S. skater has made the 1500m podium since Shani Davis finished 2nd in 2010.
“I did not have it today, not sure why. Probably just from all the events. I am sure there are different factors that go into that which affected my body,” Stolz said. “Either way, it was still a good race. Still happy with silver, and I still have two golds.”