Jordan Stolz is 4th in the last Olympic speedskating race after winning gold

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Jordan Stolz's bid to go the archetypal antheral successful 32 years with 3 Olympic golds successful agelong way speedskating was fading Saturday. Way up successful the wide start, the sport's last lawsuit astatine the Milan Cortina Games, was 40-year-old Jorrit Bergsma, who joined different skater successful pulling distant from the battalion with respective laps to go.

Stolz kept figuring idiosyncratic other would effort to reel successful the leaders. No 1 did. Stolz was shocked. He coiled up successful 4th spot down the mullet-wearing Bergsma, the oldest speedskater to assertion a golden astatine immoderate Olympics.

"They each expected maine to chase, but I wasn't going to bash that," said Stolz, a 21-year-old from Wisconsin. "If I had chased with 5 laps to go, I would person conscionable blown myself up. I thought the different guys would beryllium a spot much bare to bash it, but I conjecture they didn't privation to."

He won his archetypal 2 events successful Milan, the 500 meters and 1,000 meters. Then came a metallic successful the 1,500. After that effect connected Thursday, Stolz said: "I didn't person it today. Not definite why."

He didn't person capable successful the wide start, either.

Viktor Hald Thorup of Denmark, who moved retired beforehand with Bergsma initially, got the silver. Andrea Giovannini, who mimicked Steph Curry's "Night night" motion erstwhile helium helped Italy bushed the favored U.S. successful the men's squad pursuit, was the bronze medalist, hardly nudging past Stolz successful a closing sprint.

"I'm truly blessed for Jorrit. And I'm truly blessed for Viktor. Other than that, I don't person thing that's printable. The stupidest contention I've ever seen successful my life," said Stolz's coach, Bob Corby. "The full peloton decided, like, 'Well, let's contention for the bronze medal.' So dumb."

Ahead of these Olympics, determination had been a batch of speech astir whether Stolz mightiness extremity up with a quartet of golds, and helium was asked questions astir that astatine quality conferences instantly pursuing his 2 wins. The past antheral speedskater to get 3 golds successful speedskating astatine a azygous Winter Games was Johann Olav Koss astatine the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics.

"Well, it's conscionable fantastic to person 2 golds and a silver," Corby said. "Almost accomplished everything that we wanted to do. If helium would person won the 1,500, I wouldn't person cared thing astir the wide start."

Stolz offered a akin appraisal of his 2nd travel to the Olympics; helium had results of 13th and 14th astatine the 2022 Beijing Games when helium was 17.

"I thought it was beauteous successful: Two golds and a silver, that's beauteous good," helium said. "There's immoderate things that could person been better, but wide I'm beauteous blessed with it."

Bergsma added this golden to his bronze successful the 10,000 meters earlier successful Milan. He present has a full of 5 Olympic medals, including a golden successful the 10,000 mode backmost successful 2014.

The golden successful the women's wide commencement besides went to a Dutch skater: reigning satellite champion Marijke Groenewoud, who hadn't finished amended than seventh successful her different 3 races. Ivanie Blondin of Canada was the metallic medalist for the 2nd Games successful a row, followed by Mia Manganello of the U.S. with the bronze.

Blondin helped Canada triumph a 2nd consecutive squad pursuit golden earlier astatine these Olympics. The 36-year-old Manganello, this season's World Cup champion successful the wide start, took a triumph thigh with a U.S. emblem aft the last contention of her career.

Bergsma and Thorup near the remainder of the men's tract down successful the 16-lap race.

Eventually, Bergsma went retired successful beforehand alone, with capable of a pb that helium could seashore location during the last backstretch, pausing to dispersed his arms wide, pump his fists overhead and stroke kisses to the sizable radical of Dutch spectators astatine the Milano Speed Skating Stadium.

Later, waiting to locomotion retired to the podium for the medal ceremony, Bergsma turned to Giovannini and said astir the race: "I couldn't judge it. I was like, 'Is this truly happening?'"

Stolz, meanwhile, couldn't truly recognize what had transpired, either.

"I conjecture you conscionable person to expect the unexpected from what radical are going to do. Like successful the wide start, you would deliberation that they would privation to pursuit much to effort and to drawback Jorrit, being that I already person 2 golden medals and the guys who are the golden medal favorites successful the wide commencement didn't privation to chase," Stolz said. "So, yeah, I wouldn't person expected that."

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