19-year-old American speed skater dominates world, sets stage for 2026
The primary focus of those who follow the Olympics is on this summer’s Paris Games. But since we are still technically in winter, there have been plenty of newsmakers in winter sports less than two years until the 2026 Winter Games in Italy.
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No American athlete has made a bigger statement that he’ll be a star to watch at those 2026 Winter Olympics than 19-year-old speed skater Jordan Stolz.
Last month, Stolz won world titles in the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 meters at the world single distance championships in Calgary.
Last week in Germany, Stolz became the youngest allround speedskating world champion since Eric Heiden by recording 144.740 points, the highest point total ever at the event.
The allround event is where competitors skate four distances (500, 1,000, 1,500 and 10,000 meters) and a cumulative total is formed based on the times in all the events.
Stolz, a native of Wisconsin, said in an ESPN article that he likely won’t try and match Heiden’s performance of five gold medals achieved at the 1980 Winter Olympics in 2026, saying he likely will compete in only one of the distance events (5,000 and 10,000 meters), not both.
Still, get ready for Stolz to be one of the more hyped American winter athletes leading up to 2026.
100 years apart, famed stadium in France set to host Olympic events again
It’s not often stadiums last 100 years, let alone host events in two Olympics separated by 100 years.
But that will be the case for Yves-du-Manoir Stadium in Paris.
In 1924, the stadium was the center of those Olympics, hosting the opening and closing ceremony, soccer and track and field.
Following an extensive renovation project, the stadium — which was also used for the 1938 World Cup — will be used again for Paris 2024, serving as the venue for field hockey.
For now, it will be the only venue to be used again in an Olympic city that has hosted the Games more than once, according to inside the games. In 2028, multiple venues in Los Angeles will also likely play host to events after doing so in 1984.
Table tennis trials start next week
Another batch of U.S. Olympians will be decided in the next couple of weeks, this time in the sport of table tennis when the U.S. Olympic Table Tennis Trials take place in Louisiana from March 19-31.
In the women’s competition, two will earn spots on the Olympic team and join the already qualified Lily Zhang. The women’s team earned three quota spots by winning the team title at the 2023 Pan Am Championships.
In the men’s competition, the U.S. didn’t earn any quota spots the way the women did. The top-two finishers in Louisiana won’t automatically go to Paris, but will advance to the Pan Am Regional Olympic Trials in Peru in May, where they will have a chance to earn an Olympic spot there.
No American man or woman has ever medaled in table tennis at the Olympics.