{"id":187950,"date":"2026-02-21T22:13:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T22:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/187950\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T22:13:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T22:13:10","slug":"jordan-stolz-misses-podium-in-final-milan-cortina-olympics-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/187950\/","title":{"rendered":"Jordan Stolz misses podium in final Milan-Cortina Olympics event"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MILAN\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The spectacular Olympics of American Jordan Stolz<\/a> ended on a bit of a down note Saturday, whereas his teammate Mia Manganello<\/a> capped her speedskating career on a high.<\/p>\n

Stolz, looking to become the first man in three decades to win three gold medals in long-track speedskating saw that dream disappear with a fourth-place finish in the unpredictable mass-start format.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old from Wisconsin had already won gold in the 500 and 1,000 meters, and a silver in the 1,500 heading into Saturday\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo golds and a silver,\u201d he said, \u201cI have to be pretty happy with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in the mass start, 40-year-old Dutch skater Jorrit Bergsma<\/a> surged well ahead of the pack before the midway point of the 16-lap race. He was joined in that robust lead by Denmark\u2019s Viktor Hald Thorup.<\/p>\n

The large cluster of skaters behind them held back, hoping the two leaders would run out of gas and drift back into the pack before the final sprint. However, Bergsma held onto the lead he built and became the oldest Olympic speedskating champion in history.<\/p>\n

Stolz, who did not have an American teammate in the final to help him strategize, said the rest of the pack was reluctant to make a move on the leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys were chasing for a little bit, and then they kind of expected me to continue chasing,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I would have done that for the amount they wanted me to, I would have had no legs at the end of the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jordan <\/p>\n

Jordan Stolz cools down after finishing fourth in the men\u2019s mass start finale Saturday at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Instead, the pack held back and the two skaters in the lead widened the gap.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some point, everybody settled for third place,\u201d Stolz said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t think they could catch them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In retrospect, he said, he would have made a move on the leaders earlier had he known the pack was going to hang back.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I would have known they\u2019d be reluctant to chase, I probably would have attacked a little more,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if I did that, I wouldn\u2019t have a chance at a medal.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it was, he was narrowly beaten out for bronze by Italy\u2019s Andrea Giovannini.<\/p>\n

In the women\u2019s race, Manganello, in the final contest of her career, won bronze behind Dutch gold medalist Marijke Groenewoud and Canada\u2019s Ivanie Blondin.<\/p>\n

\"U.S. <\/p>\n

U.S. speedskater Mia Manganello celebrates after earning bronze in the women\u2019s mass start Saturday at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Manganello was overwhelmed by the victory. She confirmed after the race that she plans to retire.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrossing the line as a medalist really solidified my career,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd this past season has been exceptional for me\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a blessing to close it out with a medal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The spectacular Olympics of American Jordan Stolz ended on a bit of a down note Saturday, whereas his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[58443,4794,19609,84681,48,52,51,23151,47,50,49,88377,88378,88373,2211,88374,2478,80829,88376,88375,88379],"class_list":{"0":"post-187950","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-bronze","9":"tag-final","10":"tag-gold-medal","11":"tag-jordan-stolz","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-la-headlines","14":"tag-la-news","15":"tag-leader","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","18":"tag-los-angeles-news","19":"tag-manganello","20":"tag-midway-point","21":"tag-pack-mentality","22":"tag-race","23":"tag-robust-lead","24":"tag-silver","25":"tag-skater","26":"tag-speedskating-career","27":"tag-stolz","28":"tag-viktor-hald-thorup"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}