U.S. star Jordan Stolz takes silver in 1,500-meter speedskating at Winter Olympics after successful 2 gold medals

American speedskater Jordan Stolz got here simply wanting his third Olympic gold on Thursday, shedding out to China’s Ning Zhongyan within the males’s 1,500-meter race and as a substitute taking silver. 

Stolz was initially favored to win the race however in the end got here up about one second too sluggish, after Zhongyan completed the occasion in 1:41.98 and set an Olympic report. Competing within the anticipated remaining warmth of the 1,500-meter, Stolz ended with a time of 1:42.75.

Ning might be seen leaping up excitedly from the sidelines as soon as Stolz crossed the end line. His gold on this occasion adopted two bronze medals for Ning on this Olympics, within the 1,000-meter and workforce competitions. The Netherlands’ Kjeld Nuis took the bronze medal within the 1,500, after Stolz.

Had Stolz taken first place, the 21-year-old would have grow to be solely the second U.S. athlete in historical past to gather not less than three gold medals in any sport throughout a single Winter Video games, many years after American skater Eric Heiden gained 5 gold medals on the 1980 Winter Video games in Lake Placid, New York. 

Stolz gained gold within the males’s 1,000-meter and 500-meter speedskating occasions and set Olympic information in each races. His victory within the 1.000-meters marked the primary medal for an American in that occasion since 2010. He grew to become the primary American since Heiden to medal twice in speedskating when he gained the latter race over the weekend. 

After securing his first gold within the 1,000-meter, Stolz informed CBS Information that he anticipated his subsequent occasions to be a few of his better of the yr.

“That is what I am in search of,” Stolz mentioned. 

These are Stolz’s second Winter Video games, after he made his debut in Beijing and gained 14th place within the 1,000-meter and thirteenth place within the 500-meter. Outdoors of the Olympics, he’s the world record-holder for the 1,000-meter pace skate and the reigning two-time World Cup champion within the distance. 

Stolz is ready to compete in his fourth and remaining occasion of the Milan Cortino Video games, the mass begin, this Saturday.