17-year-old Jordan Stolz of Kewaskum is making his Olympic speedskating debut, and so we are checking in as he makes his way through the life-changing experience.
"I usually do it like once every ten days. Maybe like before a race," Stolz says of sharpening his skates.
The kitchen at the Stolz home is made for sharpening them.
Lance Allan: "When you come out here, do you reminisce? Or do you think man, I was five years old. And I was in a snowmobile suit and falling down out here. What do you think?"
"Yeah, I just, I just think back and remember, and just think how far I came from then," Stolz says.
Because from age five on, for 12 years until age 17, skating on the backyard pond is Jordan Stolz's life.
Lance Allan: "What did this place right here, teach you?"
"Just made me start falling in love with skating I guess," Stolz says. "After watching the Olympics, you know, I just tried to skate my best like how they were. And go fast," Stolz says.
The Kewaskum kid started here.
Lance Allan: "When you first saw that video of you in a snowmobile suit at five years old on national TV and on our air. Were you a little bit like, c'mon Mom and Dad, are you going to do me like that?"
"Just a little bit, because other people called me out for it, but..." Stolz says.
Lance Allan: "What did they say? What did they do?"
"They called me baby Jordan!" Stolz says.
Now he's ready to shock the world.
Lance Allan: "Do you sometimes kind of sit there and pinch yourself and go, you know, I remember seeing Apolo Ohno and his videos when he first started, or somebody else. And now that's you?"
"Yeah, it's kind of a resemblance," Stolz says. "Yeah, I mean, it has to start somewhere. And it was a pretty good start I guess. I got lucky the channel the TV was on that night."
Channel indeed, as he broke not one but two of the Pettit Center records of his coach, Shani Davis.
Lance Allan: "He told me that sometimes you'll be close to a ten, and he'll just say, ah you did a six?"
"Yeah, I kind of caught on to that a little while ago," Stolz says. "Because I knew when something, I could tell he liked it. But then I'd be like, oh was that a, on a scale of one to 10? Hmm, six. And I was like nah, I could tell that was a ten."
Once thought to be a 2026 Olympian, Jordan could medal in 2022.
Lance Allan: "How do you be Jordan Stolz, 17 year old teenager, normal?"
"Ah, I mean, that is kind of what the normal is. Just, skating is everything I guess," Stolz says. "Just go to the Pettit every day. Come back. Eat. And just go back and just keep training."
Lance Allan: "But it's not normal for a teenager to set two records at the Pettit?"
"I mean, I don't know. I'm just happy I got to skate that fast I guess," Stolz says.
Yet it's this pond, his humble countryside upbringing, and his maturity beyond 17 and a half years, that keeps this rapid rise normal.
Lance Allan: "How do you deal with more of the hype and more of the recognition?"
"I mean, I wouldn't say I really have to deal with it at all," Stolz says. "But I just keep doing what I'm doing, and then they can hype me up or whatever. But I just try and stay focused in what I have to do."
