MILWAUKEE, Wis. — All weekend, family and friends of Kewaskum native Olympic qualifying speed skater Jordan Stolz have packed into the Petit Center to watch him take on the trials.
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Stolz qualified before the trials were over, but still skated in them, and now he's less than a month away from the Winter Olympics.
"It's really exciting," Dirk Stolz said. "It's all the hard work that everybody's put into it. Jordan, us, and other people have helped us out. There are a lot of wheels spinning, and everything is kind of coming together."
All weekend, the Pettit Center was sold out. Monday's race wasn't as packed, but still, Stolz's family and friends said you cannot beat the home arena atmosphere.
For the Stolz's and their family friends, there's a lot more energy at the 2026 Olympic trials versus the last time they were there.
"Last Olympic trials we were sitting here as volunteers and the stadium was pretty much empty... No family, no crowds it was dead," Jane Stolz said. "It's going to be really fun just to have the crowds cheering—even if it is a smaller crowd than yesterday."
Watch: Family and friends reflect on Jordan Stolz's journey from Kewaskum pond to world records at Olympic speed skating trials
"Oh, it's just so much better than on TV!" family friend Nancy Meyer said. "You don't realize how fast they're really going and how easy they make it look."
Dirk said he still sees that little boy who grew up skating on a homemade pond in Kewaskum, and though the Olympic goal has never changed, even though he beats himself time after time.
"To him, there is no light at the end of the tunnel," he said. "I don't know what speed he can get up to, but he's always chasing, trying to break his own time and records. So, you still see that fight."
Jordan's mom remembers trying to get him to come inside when he was little, to no success.
"He would sit out there in the dark, until he got the lights put up, 'I'm doing more crossovers, more this, more that and I'm like it's dark! It's really dark!''' she said. "He's out there on the pond by himself, like, 'I just have to do a little bit more, little bit more!'"
Something that still hasn't hit his family—he's about to fight to achieve more goals, vying for four gold medals in February.
"When the season is over, I go back home, and I sit, watch it on my phone, all the races, all the excitement, and then it absorbs to me, he's the fastest guy in the world," Jane said. "He's set records at all these tracks, then it sinks in, and you kind of get that feeling, and it's exciting!"
Dirk and Jane will go to the Olympics in Milan, Italy, with Jordan, and they're excited to know folks at the Pettit Center and in Washington County will be holding watch parties to support him.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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