MILAN — Jordan Stolz was rather surprised that his streak of Olympic gold medals ended Thursday. So was his coach.
And so, too, was China’s Ning Zhongyan, who beat the young American star in speed skating’s 1500-meter race at the Milan Cortina Games.
“I didn’t have it today,” said Stolz, a 21-year-old from Wisconsin. “Not sure why.”
And Ning, who skated an Olympic-record time of 1 minute, 41.98 seconds in the 13th of 15 heats, said this is what ran through his mind while watching the favored Stolz set off in the day’s final pairing: “I was really happy with a silver medal.”
And then Stolz couldn’t take away the gold, which he was hoping to add to earlier victories in the 500 and 1000 at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium, a temporary facility that has been producing swift times. Instead, Stolz was off the pace at the first checkpoint, trailed by 1.35 seconds with a lap to go, and even when he turned on his usual closing speed, ended up 0.77 second back for the silver.