Video: Jordan Stolz talks about fall at U.S. Olympic Team Trials
Video: Jordan Stolz talks about fall at U.S. Olympic Team Trials at the Pettit National Ice Center.
- Speed skater Jordan Stolz fell at the start of his 1,000-meter race at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
- Despite the fall, Stolz recovered to finish third, which was enough to formally qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
- Stolz, who was battling a cold and dehydration, attributed the fall to feeling unwell rather than an issue with the ice.
Jordan Stolz fell.
Just three and four sprint running steps into his signature race, the 1,000-meters, Stolz’s toe caught the ice. It’s called a toe pick, and it caught Stolz. He stumbled forward and fell fully onto the Pettit National Ice Center’s perfectly glassy surface.
He rebounded immediately and fought for the rest of the race and his gritty, bold effort was rewarded. Stolz skated the rest of the 1,000-meters so well that he finished with a time of 1:07.968, good for third place at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in front of a sellout crowd of 1,700.
And that’s all Stolz needed. He had already pre-qualified, as the No. 1-ranked skater in the world, so any effort formally qualified Stolz for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Feb. 6-22.
But now Stolz has to contend with the fall, how it happened, and how he can regroup for the races on Sunday, Jan. 4, where he is scheduled to skate the first 500-meters and the 1,500 meters. Stolz said he would see how he felt in the morning and decide.
Last year in the Milwaukee World Cup, Dutch skater Jutta Leerdam had a similar fall just a few steps after her run. This is fast ice, but Stolz said it wasn’t the issue.
“No, nothing with the ice,” said Stolz. “I was just feeling a little dehydrated going in to it … so I felt weird in my legs. I just got a little wide on one of the steps and toe picked. Got up pretty quick; kept going. So it was a good race.”
Stolz let out a smile and a little laugh, still in good spirits.
Falls, false starts, mistakes just don’t happen often – it hasn’t happened in anyone’s memory in the last three years – but once again, a cold or virus seems to be the only thing that can make Stolz a little human-looking. He said he’s not very sick, but feels badly enough to be affected.
“It’s not strong, it’s just dehydrating,” said Stolz. “I’m drinking so much water but I can’t really get hydrated. I felt like I was cramping up. A little sick, but still doing good.”
Stolz said that since he was already pre-qualified, he didn’t have a strategy for this race – he just wanted a good race. He thought he could have had a good time that was fast, but he had been dealing with the illness and had the toe pick. He was happy with how he rebounded. It’s a remarkable time for a fall.
But Stolz is very much in training mode, gearing up for the Olympics one month from now. And being out sick the last couple of days hasn’t helped with training.
“I knew whatever happened, I would still qualify,” said Stolz. “It was fine.”
Stolz even looked a little bit chilled during his warmups, trying to cover his hands with his warmup jacket, and his warmup laps were extended by a two-minute emergency ice repair. In any case, this was just another experience for him to draw upon, as he rarely falls.
“I just wasn’t feeling right with the cold I have,” said Stolz, who clearly sounded like he was battling a cold. “But physically I was still OK, just felt a little weird. Because I’ve been laying around the last couple of days trying to get rid of the sickness.”
Stolz’s family has been trying to avoid the virus and flu that is going around in Milwaukee so much so that they asked Stolz not to sign autographs or mingle with the public. But he was already ill coming in to the weekend.
It should not be lost in that fall that Stolz’s recovery was strong. Paired with Conor Mcdermott-Mostowy, Stolz closed in on his fellow teammate, who also qualified for the team with his 1,000-meter win.
“I just tried to get it all out, right?” said Stolz. “Go as hard as I could and see what would happen. And where I would end up. I started gaining on him and it was still OK.”
The 1,000-meter is Stolz’s race. It has been that way for five years at least. For a multifaceted athlete who is breaking all the rules – he can sprint, he can win at middle distance, he can compete and win in long distance – this is his signature race.
He owns the world record in the race, scoring a time of 1:05.37 on Jan. 26, 2024, in Salt Lake City when he skated at the ISU World Cup event at the Olympic Oval. He was just 19 at the time.
He owns the Pettit track records in the 1,000 with a time of 1:06.16 and he has at least a handful of track records in the 1,000 world wide.
But illness has derailed him before. Last year he got strep throat and pneumonia right here in Milwaukee, and it was too much to recover from before the World Championships. He still skated to podium finishes, but not gold. He is a two-time World Champion in the 500, 1,000 and 1,500, and just missed the three-peat.
Stolz is atop all of the World Cup standings from his 2025 races, finishing first in the 500, the 1,000 and the 1,500, making him the best in the world. Somewhat of a newcomer to the crazy Mass Start race, Stolz even finished No. 5 in the World Cup standings there – and was the top American.
