MILAN — The bid by Jordan Stolz to become the first man in 32 years with three Olympic golds in long-track speed skating was fading Saturday.
Way ahead in the mass start, the sport’s final event at the Milan Cortina Games, was 40-year-old Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands, who joined another skater in pulling away from the pack with several laps to go.
Stolz kept figuring someone else would try to reel in the leaders. No one did. Stolz was shocked. The young American wound up in fourth place behind Bergsma, the oldest speed skater to win gold at any Olympics.
“They all expected me to chase, but I wasn’t going to do that,” said the 21-year-old Stolz, who is from Wisconsin. “If I would have chased with five laps to go, I would have just blown myself up. I thought the other guys would be a bit more hungry to do it, but I guess they didn’t want to.”
Stolz won his first two events in Milan, the 500- and 1000-meter races, and then came a silver in the 1500. After that result Thursday, Stolz said: “I didn’t have it today. Not sure why.”