MILAN — When American speedskating phenom Jordan Stolz and his family went out to eat while in the Netherlands for a World Cup event a few months ago, they didn’t have the luxury of choosing a restaurant for the type of food it served.

Their main priority was finding a secluded spot in a quiet part of town where Stolz could enjoy a meal in peace without getting recognized.

Almost immediately after the Stolz family sat down, a group of men walked by their table and did a double take.

“Are you Jordan?” one of them asked.

Stolz tried to say no, but smirks and giggles from his family members gave him away. Before long, more restaurant-goers approached the table to say hello to Stolz or to ask him to pose for a picture. He barely had time to shovel food into his mouth between interruptions.

“It’s crazy over there,” said Dirk Stolz, Jordan’s father. “Anywhere we go, everybody knows him.”

Since rocketing onto the global speedskating scene three years ago, Stolz has become the rare athlete more famous internationally than in his home country. The 21-year-old is a superstar in speedskating hotspots like the Netherlands, Norway and Germany, but he remains almost completely unknown across America and even in his home state of Wisconsin.

Stolz took a big step toward changing that Wednesday night in Milan when he shined in the first of his four races on the Olympic stage. The kid who learned to skate on his family’s backyard pond in Kewaskum, Wisconsin, outraced a world-class field in the men’s 1,000 meters to win his first Olympic gold medal.

Stolz clocked a winning time of 1:06.28, breaking a 24-year-old Olympic record set at altitude before he was even born. Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands thrilled the roaring orange-clad pro-Dutch crowd by taking second, just half a second behind Stolz.

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Going head-to-head in the second-to-last pairing of the night brought out the best in both Stolz and de Boo. Stolz trailed the Dutchman by four tenths of a second at the 600-meter mark of the race, but the American was able to display his superior speed endurance, find another gear and surge past de Boo late in the final lap.

“I was hoping to be pretty even with him at the 600 and then get him in the last lap, but he was ahead,” Stolz said. “So I was a little worried that he could possibly win. I threw two arms down and attacked as hard as I could. I was able to reel him in on that last corner.”

De Boo entered the race knowing he needed to be well ahead of Stolz at the 600-meter mark to have any shot of holding him off. When he heard the hissing sound of Stolz’s blades hitting the ice around the 800-meter mark, de Boo knew that his lead was not going to hold up.

“I had high hopes, but his last lap was just incredible,” de Boo said.

Stolz had to wait an extra 15 minutes for confirmation that he had won because Joep Wennemars of the Netherlands was granted a reskate. Wennemars was on his way to a potential podium finish before he collided with China’s Lian Ziwen from behind on the lane crossover during the final lap of his race. Furious at the obstruction, Wennemars lodged a protest but his re-skate resulted in a slower time and he settled for a fifth-place finish.

“It’s hard to win a medal after you already skated 1,000 meters,” Stolz said. “I felt pretty bad for him.”

It’s always reckless to guarantee gold medals in a pressure-packed setting like the Olympics, but it would have been a massive surprise to see any other skater besides Stolz win the men’s 1,000. He’s not just the world-record holder in this event. He last lost a World Cup race at this distance in November 2023.

While Stolz is also a clear favorite to win gold in the men’s 1,500 on Feb. 19, his other two races pose a stiffer challenge. The high-intensity, fast-paced 500 features several sprinters who have beaten Stolz on the World Cup circuit this season. And the chaotic mass-start event brings an element of randomness with the whole field racing shoulder-to-shoulder.

Asked about the possibility of winning four gold medals, Stolz admitted that would be “crazy” and “super historical” but also acknowledged how difficult it would be.

“It’s hard enough to get one gold medal,” he said. “One is huge for me.”

If Stolz can pile up medals over the next 10 days, it could be life-changing for him and huge for the notoriety of his sport in the U.S. Already, Stolz has landed endorsement deals with the likes of Hershey’s and Honda and gained the backing of NBC. He starred alongside Glen Powell in a hilarious commercial promoting NBC airing the Winter Games.

For Stolz, his first Olympic gold medal is a major milestone on a journey that began with watching the charismatic Apolo Anton Ohno at the 2010 Vancouver Games. He has chased Olympic glory ever since, snapping at the heels of America’s fastest speedskaters by age l6 and then coming for the rest of the world a year or two later.

Jane Stolz recalls a ticket scanner initially denying her entry the first time her son competed at the World Championships three years ago. No matter how many times she tried, her digital ticket wouldn’t scan properly.

Then Jordan won his first global title in the 500. And the 1,000. And the 1,500.

“By the end of the week, I didn’t have to worry about showing tickets anymore,” Jane said with a laugh. “They all knew who we were.”

The more races Stolz has won and records he has broken, the more well known he becomes. He seldom finishes a meal in the speedskating-obsessed Netherlands without interruptions. He rarely makes it to his gate at the airport in Amsterdam without fulfilling a request for a picture or autograph.

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Stolz’s parents receive so much airtime when he races that they’ve become famous-adjacent among speedskating fans. Jane remembers two elderly women approaching her at an overseas coffee shop when she was jet-lagged and exhausted. At first, Jane thought they needed help. Then they asked her, “Are you Jordan’s mom?”

Dirk and Jane know a Wisconsin couple that emigrated from the Netherlands and still watches Dutch TV regularly.

“They tell us they see us and Jordan on the evening news all the time,” Jane said.

The contrast is striking compared to Stolz’s anonymity in his home country, especially among those not old enough to remember Eric Heiden’s five gold medals at the Lake Placid Olympics in 1980. The average Wisconsinite that Jane encounters isn’t guaranteed to know what speedskating is, let alone about the exploits of her son.

“I’m like, you know, speed skating, where they go around in the oval?” Jane said. “They’re like, huh? I’m like, you know, Eric Heiden? They still have no clue.”

Now is Stolz’s two weeks in the Olympic limelight back home, his best chance to elevate his own stature and that of his sport.

Somewhere in America, there’s a kid with a backyard pond watching Olympic speed skating. And maybe he dreams of being the next Jordan Stolz.