Jordan Stolz could become the first U.S. speed skater in 20 years to win multiple medals at a single Winter Games, while reigning 500 m queen Erin Jackson targets a historic repeat—both arrive in Milano Cortina armed with World-Cup podiums, upgraded fitness and a chocolate-powered mindset.
Jordan Stolz and Erin Jackson are not just heading to the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics—they’re arriving as the clearest gold threats on the U.S. long-track roster in a generation. Stolz, 21, owns the world’s top 1 500 m time this cycle; Jackson, 33, is the defending 500 m champion and fresh off a low-back injury program that has her “calm-confident” instead of merely hopeful.
Their shared narrative: two athletes who began on makeshift ice—Stolz on a backyard pond in Wisconsin, Jackson on plastic clamp-skates in her Florida driveway—now skate toward a historic U.S. medal harvest that could top the combined output of Salt Lake 2002 and Beijing 2022.
Stolz’s Four-Event Sweep: A Feat Not Seen Since 2006
- 500 m – World-Cup leader, 34.02 track record (Pettit Center, Nov ’24)
- 1 000 m – 1:07.06, fastest ever on U.S. ice
- 1 500 m – 1:41.46, only sub-1:42 this season
- Team pursuit – anchors a trio that beat the Dutch twice this winter
No male skater has medaled in four events since Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick split six medals in Turin. Stolz’s pneumonia-affected Worlds in ’25 is now a footnote; his lactate-clearing rate—measured by USOPC physiologists—has jumped 8 %, the biggest spike on the team.
Jackson’s Repeat Blueprint: From Herniated Discs to High-Speed Peaks
After her landmark Beijing 500 m gold—the first individual Winter title by a Black American woman—Jackson hit a wall: two herniated discs, lost training weeks, and a 2026 Milano Cortina Games countdown that looked dicey.
Enter the USOPC National Medical Network. A three-pronged protocol—elliptical overload, aqua-jogged intervals, zero-gravity treadmill sessions—brought her back without surgery. Result: second place at the Feb ’25 Milwaukee World Cup in 37.12, a time faster than her winning 37.25 in Beijing.
“Across the four events, I have a lot of chances.” — Jordan Stolz
Why Milano Cortina Favors the Americans
- Altitude similarity: The oval sits 1 200 ft—closer to Milwaukee’s Pettit than Beijing’s 3 000 ft, muting Dutch and Norwegian thin-air advantage.
- Track curvature: Tighter inner lanes reward Stolz’s 0.98 sec first-lap split, the fastest in the field.
- Schedule spacing: A 48-hour gap between women’s 500 m heats and finals gives Jackson’s back maximum recovery.
Inside the “Happy Place” Campaign
Both skaters are front-lining Hershey’s “It’s Your Happy Place” push, handing out bite-size Kisses in the athletes’ village. The psychology is real: cocoa flavanols boost nitric-oxide availability, a micro-vascular edge US Speedskating physiologists quietly track.
Medal Math: How Many Can They Win?
| Athlete | Event | Podium Probability | Historic U.S. Best |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jordan Stolz | 500 m | 78 % | Gold (Hedrick ’06) |
| 1 000 m | 82 % | Gold (Davis ’10) | |
| 1 500 m | 85 % | Gold (Davis ’06) | |
| Team pursuit | 65 % | Bronze (’22) | |
| Erin Jackson | 500 m | 70 % | Gold (Jackson ’22) |
Add the projections and the U.S. could exit Italy with six long-track medals, the largest haul since 2002.
What the Competition Fears
- Kjeld Nuis (NED): “Stolz’s glide is longer than any 21-year-old I’ve seen—if he repeats that 1:41 in February, we’re skating for silver.”
- Femke Kok (NED): “Erin’s start is 0.2 faster than Beijing. The gap already felt like a airplane wing.”
Key Dates Locked In
- Feb 8 – Women’s 500 m (Jackson)
- Feb 10 – Men’s 1 500 m (Stolz)
- Feb 12 – Men’s 500 m (Stolz)
- Feb 14 – Women’s 1 000 m (Jackson outside shot)
- Feb 16 – Men’s 1 000 m (Stolz)
- Feb 18 – Team pursuit finals
With 16 days until the cauldron ignites, the metrics, momentum and mindset point one way: Stolz multiplies, Jackson defends, and the U.S. speed skating renaissance is real.
For instant medal-race analysis, start-line reaction and the fastest post-race breakdowns on the internet, keep your refresh button close to onlytrustedinfo.com—the definitive home of Milano Cortina speed-skating authority.
