MILAN (AP) — Jordan Stolz missed out on his chance to become the first man since 1994 to collect three gold medals in long track speedskating at one Olympics, finishing fourth in the mass start on Saturday behind 40-year-old champion Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands.
The mullet-wearing Bergsma is the oldest man to win a speedskating gold, and he adds that to his bronze in the 10,000 meters earlier at the Milan Cortina Games. He now has a total of five Olympic medals, including a gold in the 10,000 way back in 2014. Viktor Hald Thorup of Denmark got the silver Saturday. Andrea Giovannini, who mimicked Steph Curry’s “Night night” gesture when he helped Italy beat the favored U.S. in the men’s team pursuit, was the bronze medalist.
The gold in the women's mass start, the last speedskating event at these Olympics, also went to a Dutch skater: reigning world champion Marijke Groenewoud, who hadn't finished better than seventh in her other three races in Milan. Ivanie Blondin of Canada was the silver medalist for the second Games in a row, followed by Mia Manganello of the U.S. with the bronze.
Blondin helped Canada win a second consecutive team pursuit gold earlier at these Olympics. The 36-year-old Manganello, this season's World Cup champion in the mass start, took a victory lap with a U.S. flag after the final race of her career.
There had been a lot of talk about whether Stolz might end up with a quartet of golds: He was asked questions about that at the outset of the news conferences immediately following his two wins. The last male speedskater to get three golds in long track at a single Winter Games was Johann Olav Koss at the Lillehammer Olympics 32 years ago. The Norwegian won the 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000.
Recommended for you
The only two long track athletes with more are Eric Heiden, who went 5-for-5 for the United States at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, and Lidiya Skoblikova, who claimed four titles in women’s speedskating while representing the Soviet Union in 1964.
Bergsma and Thorup broke away from the pack midway through the 16-lap mass start. And then Bergsma went out in front alone, with enough of a lead that he could coast home during the final backstretch, pausing to spread his arms wide, pump his fists overhead and blow kisses to the sizable group of Dutch spectators at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium.
The mass start, added to the Olympics in 2018, is unlike any other individual event in long track.
Instead of essentially racing against the clock during two-person heats, all of the entrants line up together and do 16 laps — a total of 6,400 meters — simultaneously. That can lead to jostling and create what some skaters call random outcomes.
“The mass start is just kind of a tossup,” Stolz said before the race. “It’s more like a bonus. It’s so hard to say what’s going to happen in that.”
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.