With 11 days of speed skating competition down, there's just one more event on the 2026 Olympic program: the mass start.

A chaotic event that resembles short track more closely than any of the other speed skating races, the mass start typically features between 16 and 24 skaters racing around the oval in a pack. The 16 laps are split into four intervals, marked by a sprint every four laps. 

Both events feature two semifinals of 14 or 15 skaters each. The top eight skaters in each semifinal advance to the final.

Two Americans have a shot at gold in Milan: Sprint sensation Jordan Stolz and world No. 1 Mia Manganello.

All speed skating events are available to watch on mobile, tablet and connected TV devices via the Peacock, NBC and NBC Sports apps.

Ahead of the 2025-26 World Cup season, Stolz, who began his career as a short track skater long ago, decided to add the mass start to his repertoire. He hadn't raced the event on the senior World Cup level since 2021, and he hadn't raced it in competition since he took bronze at the 2023 Junior World Championships. 

But as the sprint king often does, he surprised. One week after placing 15th out of 24 skaters at the World Cup opener in Salt Lake City, he skated to bronze in the event. By World Cup No. 4, he found his way to gold. At U.S. Olympic Trials in January, he placed 2nd and 1st between the weekend's two races. 

Stolz, 21, has already made the podium thrice in Milan, winning the 500m and 1000m and taking silver in the 1500m. Though his inexperience might impede some, his speed may carry him to a fourth podium.

With a gold in Saturday's mass start, Stolz would become only the second American to win three events in any sport at the same Winter Games. The first was fellow Wisconsinite and speed skater Eric Heiden, who finished 1st in each of the five men's events at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.

Teammate Ethan Cepuran, who anchored the U.S. men's team pursuit trio to silver Feb. 17, will join Stolz in the men's competition.

As per usual, Stolz's greatest challenge may come from a Dutch skater. This time, though, it'll be 40-year-old Jorrit Bergsma, who became the oldest-ever Olympic speed skating medalist with 10,000m bronze Feb. 13. 

Bergsma, who is married to U.S. Olympic speed skater Heather Bergsma, entered the Olympics as the world No. 1 in the mass start after winning two World Cup races to start the season.

Reigning Olympic champion Bart Swings (Belgium), world No. 2 Andrea Giovaninni (Italy), and 10,000m gold medalist Metodej Jilek will also be in the mix Saturday.

Nearly 25 years after she first stepped onto an oval, Manganello is preparing to retire. She's also at the peak of her career.

Manganello, 36, skated to her first-ever individual World Cup gold with a win in the mass start at the season opener in November. With one silver and two bronzes across the next four races, she clunched her first World Cup title in the event — beating the Netherlands' Marijke Groenewoud by just one point.

Groenewoud is a three-time world champion in the distance, earning her most recent crown in 2025. She made the podium in four of five World Cup races this season (2 gold, 2 silver). 

Canada boasts two strong long distance skaters who have already climbed into the top three in Milan: Valerie Maltais and Ivanie Blondin. World No. 4 Maltais skated to bronze in the 1500m and 3000m, and world No. 3 Blondin aided in Canada's winning effort in the team pursuit (alongside Maltais). Blondin also collected a medal of every color in the mass start on this World Cup season.

American Greta Myers will also compete in the mass start Saturday, the third and final event of her Olympic debut.