His main priority was to find a secluded place in a quiet part of the city where Stolz could enjoy a meal quietly without being recognized.
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Almost immediately after the Stolzes sat down, a group of men walked past their table and did a double take.
“Are Jordan?” asked one of them.
Stolz tried to say no, but the smiles and giggles of his relatives gave him away. Soon, more diners at the restaurant approached the table to greet Stolz or ask him to pose for a photo. He barely had time to put food in his mouth between interruptions.
“It’s crazy there,” said Dirk Stolz, Jordan’s father. “Everywhere we go, everyone knows him.”
Since bursting onto the world speed skating scene three years ago, Stolz has become one of the few athletes more famous internationally than in his home country. The 21-year-old is a superstar in speedskating hotspots like the Netherlands, Norway and Germany, but remains almost completely unknown across the United States and even in his home state of Wisconsin.
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Stolz took a big step toward change that Wednesday night in Milan when he shined in the first of his four races on the Olympic stage. The boy who learned to skate on his family’s backyard pond in Kewaskum, Wisconsin, bested a world-class field in the men’s 1,000 meters to win his first Olympic gold medal.
Stolz destroyed the Olympic record by almost a second, with a time of 1:06.28.
It’s always unwise to guarantee gold medals in a pressure-packed environment like the Olympics, but it would have been a huge surprise to see any other skater besides Stolz win the men’s 1,000. He is not just the world record holder in this event. The last time he lost a World Cup race at this distance was in November 2023.
While Stolz is also a clear favorite to win gold in the men’s 1,500 meters on February 19, his other two races pose a tougher challenge. The high-intensity, fast-paced 500 meters feature several sprinters who have beaten Stolz on the World Cup circuit this season. And the chaotic mass start event brings an element of randomness with the entire field running shoulder to shoulder.
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If Stolz can rack up the medals in the next 10 days, it could be life-changing and huge for his sport’s notoriety in the U.S. Already, Stolz has landed endorsement deals with companies like Hershey’s and Honda and has earned endorsements from NBC. He starred alongside Glen Powell in a funny commercial promoting NBC’s broadcast of the Winter Games.
For Stolz, his first Olympic gold medal is a major milestone in a journey that began watching the charismatic Apolo Anton Ohno at the 2010 Vancouver Games. He has chased Olympic glory ever since, hot on the heels of America’s fastest skaters at age 16 and then reaching the rest of the world a year or two later.
Jane Stolz remembers being initially denied entry by a ticket scanner the first time her son competed at the World Championships three years ago. No matter how many times you tried, your digital ticket would not scan correctly.
Then Jordan won his first world title in the 500. And the 1,000. And the 1,500.
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“At the end of the week, I didn’t have to worry about showing the tickets anymore,” Jane said with a laugh. “Everyone knew who we were.”
The more races Stolz wins and the more records he breaks, the more well-known he becomes. Rarely does a meal end without interruptions in the speed-skating-obsessed Netherlands. He rarely arrives at his gate at Amsterdam Airport without fulfilling a photo or autograph request.
Stolz’s parents receive so much airtime when he races that they have become famous among speed skating fans. Jane remembers being approached by two older women in a cafe abroad when she was exhausted and jet-lagged. At first, Jane thought they needed help. Then they asked her, “Are you Jordan’s mom?”
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Dirk and Jane meet a couple from Wisconsin who emigrated from the Netherlands and still watch Dutch television regularly.
“They tell us they see us and Jordan on the nightly news all the time,” Jane said.
The contrast is striking compared to Stolz’s anonymity in his home country, especially among those not old enough to remember Eric Heiden’s five gold medals at the Lake Placid Olympics in 1980. The average Wisconsinite Jane encounters is not guaranteed to know what speed skating is, much less about her son’s exploits.
“I’m like, you know, speed skating, where they go around the oval?” Jane said. “They say, huh? I say, you know, Eric Heiden? They still have no idea.”
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Now are Stolz’s two weeks in the Olympic spotlight at home, his best chance to elevate his own stature and that of his sport.
Somewhere in America, there’s a kid with a pond in his backyard watching Olympic speed skating. And maybe he dreams of being the next Jordan Stolz.