Exactly two decades ago, on Feb. 13, 2006, speed skater Joey Cheek won the United States' last Olympic gold in the men's 500m in Turin, Italy. On Saturday, at another Italian Games, Jordan Stolz will attempt to end that drought.

Skaters are slated to take the ice at 11 a.m. E.T.

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

Since he burst onto the scene with two surprise wins at the 2022 Olympic Trials at age 17, Stolz has completely dominated the sprint world. In the 500m, he owns two world titles, the last two World Cup titles, the junior world record, and the sea-level senior world record. His personal-best time of 33.69 seconds is just 0.08 seconds off the world record skated by Pavel Kulizhnikov in 2019. During the 2025-26 World Cup season, he skated to two track records in the distance: one at World Cup No. 3 in Heerenveen, Netherlands, and one at World Cup No. 4 in Hamar, Norway. 

At the 2026 Winter Olympics, he could become the second-ever American athlete to collect three or more gold medals at a single Winter Games. The first was fellow Wisconsinite Eric Heiden, who won all five of his speed skating events in 1980.

Stolz added his first Olympic gold to his résumé Wednesday with a win in the 1000m, his best event. But the 500m, the shortest of the sprints with the least room for error, has proven to be the weakest of Stolz's three primary events this season.

In nine 500m races on this year's World Cup circuit, Stolz won just five — a success rate of roughly 56 percent. In the last two, he finished 2nd behind Poland's Damian Zurek, who outpaced Stolz by less than 0.2 seconds in each. Zurek's first win clipped a nearly-imperceptible 0.01 seconds off the track record, which Stolz held. In his second, Zurek crossed the finish line just 0.04 seconds ahead of Stolz.

Stolz will compete in pair #13 with Dutch rival Jenning de Boo. Zurek will take the ice in pair #14. 

De Boo also beat Stolz twice this season. The first was at the World Cup opener in Salt Lake City, when de Boo took gold and Stolz finished 4th, and once at World Cup No. 2, when de Boo took silver ahead of Stolz's bronze.

Just four months Stolz's senior, de Boo emerged as Stolz's primary rival when he denied Stolz a three-peat in the 500m at the 2025 World Championships (the caveat being that Stolz was recovering from a lengthy bout of pneumonia and strep throat). Stolz finished 2nd, and fellow American Cooper McLeod landed in 3rd.

McLeod, who made his Olympic debut in the 1000m Feb. 11, will also race in the 500m. He finished the season as the world No. 10 in the distance. Reigning U.S. champion Zach Stoppelmoor, also making his Olympic debut in Milan, will compete in pair #4.

Earlier in the day, eight teams will compete in the women's team pursuit quarterfinals.

The four fastest teams advance to the semifinals. The teams with the 5th and 6th fastest times advance to Final C and the 2 remaining teams advance to Final D.

With two podium finishes in three races on the World Cup circuit this season, the United States is the world's third-ranked team for the second year in a row. Veterans Brittany Bowe and Mia Manganello, who lifted the country to bronze at the 2018 Games, lead the trio, and Greta Myers and Giorgia Birkeland split time in the third spot. As a unit, they broke the national record twice this season.

Reigning Olympic champion Canada enters the Games as the world's top-ranked trio. Ivanie Blondin, Isabelle Weidemann, and Valarie Maltais set a new Olympic record in Beijing and made the podium in all three World Cup races this season (1 gold, 2 silvers).

Powered by middle-distance icon Miho Takagi, world record-holder Japan also skated to three top-3 finishes this season (1 gold, 2 bronze).