Jordan Stolz misses podium in final Milan-Cortina | College News
MILAN — The spectacular Olympics of American Jordan Stolz ended on a bit of a down observe Saturday, whereas his teammate Mia Manganello capped her speedskating profession on a high.
Stolz, wanting to turn into the first man in three a long time to win three gold medals in long-track speedskating noticed that dream disappear with a fourth-place end in the unpredictable mass-start format.
The 21-year-old from Wisconsin had already gained gold in the five hundred and 1,000 meters, and a silver in the 1,500 heading into Saturday’s race.
“Two golds and a silver,” he said, “I have to be pretty happy with that.”
But in the mass start, 40-year-old Dutch skater Jorrit Bergsma surged nicely forward of the pack before the halfway level of the 16-lap race. He was joined in that sturdy lead by Denmark’s Viktor Hald Thorup.
The large cluster of skaters behind them held back, hoping the 2 leaders would run out of fuel and drift back into the pack before the final dash. However, Bergsma held onto the lead he constructed and turned the oldest Olympic speedskating champion in historical past.
Stolz, who didn’t have an American teammate in the final to help him strategize, said the remaining of the pack was reluctant to make a transfer on the leaders.
“The guys were chasing for a little bit, and then they kind of expected me to continue chasing,” he said. “If I would have done that for the amount they wanted me to, I would have had no legs at the end of the race.”
Jordan Stolz cools down after ending fourth in the boys’s mass start finale Saturday at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Instead, the pack held back and the 2 skaters in the lead widened the hole.
“At some point, everybody settled for third place,” Stolz said. “They didn’t think they could catch them.”
In retrospect, he said, he would have made a transfer on the leaders earlier had he identified the pack was going to dangle back.
“If I would have known they’d be reluctant to chase, I probably would have attacked a little more,” he said. “But if I did that, I wouldn’t have a chance at a medal.”
As it was, he was narrowly overwhelmed out for bronze by Italy’s Andrea Giovannini.
In the ladies’s race, Manganello, in the final contest of her profession, gained bronze behind Dutch gold medalist Marijke Groenewoud and Canada’s Ivanie Blondin.
U.S. speedskater Mia Manganello celebrates after incomes bronze in the ladies’s mass start Saturday at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Manganello was overwhelmed by the victory. She confirmed after the race that she plans to retire.
“Crossing the line as a medalist really solidified my career,” she said. “And this past season has been exceptional for me…
“It was a blessing to close it out with a medal.”
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