Reigning world champion Jordan Stolz set a world record in the men’s 1000 meters speed skating on Friday, with the American teenager clocking a time of 1 minute and 5.37 seconds at the Utah Olympic Oval.
The 19-year-old who starred with three world championship titles last year set the tone at a World Cup race outside Salt Lake City, breaking the old mark of 1:05.69 set by Pavel Kulizhnikov of Russia at the same oval in February 2020. .
Stolz is the first American to set a world speed skating record in an individual event since Brittany Bowe in the women’s 1000 in March 2019 at the Utah oval.
An American man has not set a world record since Shani Davis in the 1500 in Utah in December 2009.
Last March in the Netherlands at the age of 18, Stolz won world crowns in the 500, 1000 and 1500 meters – becoming the first man to win three individual titles at one world championship.
He was also the youngest single-distance world champion in history and the first to win world and world junior titles for all three distances in the same year.