02/21/26 09:28:00
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02/21 09:27 CST Jordan Stolz qualifies for the Olympic mass start final as he
seeks a 3rd speedskating gold
Jordan Stolz qualifies for the Olympic mass start final as he seeks a 3rd
speedskating gold
By HOWARD FENDRICH
AP National Writer
MILAN (AP) --- Jordan Stolz qualified for the final of the mass start Saturday
by finishing fourth in his semifinal as he tried to become the first man in 32
years to leave an Olympics with three gold medals in long track speedskating.
The top eight in each semifinal, based on a combination of the order of finish
and bonus points for leading intermediary checkpoints, advanced to contend for
medals later Saturday.
Among the others reaching the men's final: 2022 Olympic gold medalist Bart
Swings of Belgium; Jorrit Bergsma, the 40-year-old Dutch skater who was this
season's World Cup champion in the mass start and took a bronze in the 10,000
meters in Milan; Andrea Giovannini, who mimicked Steph Curry's "Night night"
gesture when he helped Italy beat the favored U.S. in the men's team pursuit;
and Metodej Jilek, the 19-year-old Czech star who collected gold in the 10,000
and silver in the 5,000.
Those getting to the women's final included Americans Mia Manganello, this
season's World Cup champion in the mass start, and Greta Myers; Canadians
Valerie Maltais, who has a gold in team pursuit and bronzes in the 1,500 and
3,000 at these Olympics, and Ivanie Blondin, the silver medalist from Beijing
four years ago; reigning world champion Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands;
and Francesca Lollobrigida, the Italian who won the 3,000 and 5,000 in Milan
and a mass start bronze in 2022.
Heading into the women's and men's mass starts that wrapped up the sport's
competition at the Milano Speedskating Stadium, Stolz already had won the 500
meters and 1,000 meters and added a silver in the 1,500.
After the latter result on Thursday, Stolz said: "I didn't have it today. Not
sure why."
There had been a lot of talk about whether the 21-year-old from Wisconsin might
end up with a quartet of golds: He was asked questions about that at the outset
of the news conferences immediately following his two victories.
But going home with a trio of wins would be significant.
The last male speedskater to get three golds in long track at a single Winter
Games was Johann Olav Koss at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics (the Norwegian won
the 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000).
The only two athletes with more are Eric Heiden, who went 5-for-5 for the
United States at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, and Lidiya Skoblikova, who
claimed four titles in women's speedskating while representing the Soviet Union
in 1964.
The mass start, added to the Olympics in 2018, is unlike any other individual
event in long track.
Instead of essentially racing against the clock during two-person heats, all of
the entrants line up together and do 16 laps --- a total of 6,400 meters ---
simultaneously. That can lead to jostling and create what some skaters call
random outcomes.
"The mass start is just kind of a tossup," Stolz said. "It's more like a bonus.
It's so hard to say what's going to happen in that."
Maltais said she sees the mass start as really up for grabs.
"It's anyone's race. It's completely different. It's not the strongest athlete
who will win; it's the smartest. The one who's going to be more patient. The
one who's going to have to be bold, maybe in attack. A lot of things will
happen," Maltais said. "It's hard to predict. You have less control of what's
happening around you. It's the race where I'm the most nervous when I show up
to the line."
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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