From Olympic debuts to new age and speed records, speed skating at the 2026 Olympics was full of firsts.

Unsurprisingly, the Netherlands continued its legacy of speed skating prowess in Milan, though athletes from the United States and Italy — like speed skating phenom Jordan Stolz — denied the Dutch some key spots on the podium.

Here are some of the most memorable moments from the Ice Park at Fiera Milano.

RESULTS | WATCH FULL EVENT REPLAYS

FULL EVENT REPLAYS: Men's 500m | Men's 1000m | Men's 1500m | Men's Mass Start

Jordan Stolz entered the Olympics with lofty expectations. With two world titles and two World Cup crowns in each of the three sprints — the 500m, 1000, and 1500m — the 21-year-old was the skater to beat.

Four years after making his surprise Olympic debut in Beijing, Stolz put up a historic effort in Milan, beating Dutch rival Jenning de Boo to gold in both the 500m and 1000m. Both surpassed Olympic records with their final times in each event, but as he often does, Stolz beat de Boo to the finish by a hair.

His wins mark the first time an American man has earned Olympic speed skating gold since 2010, the first time an American man has earned an individual speed skating medal in the same span, and the first time an American man has won the 500m since 2006.

He also skated to silver in the 1500m, slipping to 2nd behind a career-best skate from China's Ning Zhongyan, and finished 4th in the mass start. Stolz added the latter event to his program just this season.

Stolz now stands as just the seventh American athlete to make the podium three times at a single Winter Games.

FULL EVENT REPLAYS: Women's 1000m | Women's 1500m | Men's Team Pursuit Qualifying | Women's Team Pursuit Qualifying | M&W Team Pursuit Finals | Women's Mass Start

After nearly two decades of leading the speed skating world, three longtime fixtures of the U.S. team took their final Olympic bows in Milan: Brittany Bowe, Mia Manganello, and Emery Lehman.

Four-time Olympian Bowe ended a hugely-successful career with 4th-place finishes in the 1000m, the 1500m, and the team pursuit. Though she left Milan without a medal, she did find her way to some metal: an engagement ring presented by hockey legend Hilary Knight.

Lehman, also making his fourth Olympic appearance, joined Casey Dawson and Ethan Cepuran in the United States' silver-earning effort in the men's team pursuit for his second-career Olympic medal. He also competed in the 1500m.

In the final event of the 2026 Games, Manganello made history, becoming the first American man or woman to make an Olympic podium in the mass start. Her bronze was her first individual Olympic medal (she and Bowe skated to 3rd in the team pursuit in 2018).

FULL EVENT REPLAYS: Women's 500m | Women's 5000m | Men's 5000m

As they often do, the Dutch dominated the speed skating competition in Milan, collecting a world-leading 13 medals. The countries with the next closest total are Italy, the United States, and Canada, which all have five.

The Netherlands won four of the seven golds available on the women's side. Femke Kok and Jutta Leerdam finished 1st and 2nd in the 500m and 1000m, collecting one gold and one silver apiece — each with an Olympic record time. Marijke Groenewoud won the mass start, and Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong finished 1st in the 1500m. Merel Conijn added a silver medal in the 5000m.

Jenning de Boo and Jorrit Bergsma skated to two medals each. De Boo took silver behind Stolz twice (500m, 1000m), and Bergsma finished 3rd in the 5000m and 1st in the mass start. Kjeld Nuis grabbed one, 1500m bronze.

Thirteen of the Netherlands' 20 medals collected at the 2026 Games came from speed skating. The Dutch found the other seven in short track.

FULL EVENT REPLAY: Women's 3000m

Italy came to the Olympic stage ready to play, fighting its way to 30 total medals and smashing the country's former Winter Olympic record of 20, set at the 1994 Lillehammer Games. Five of those medals — and three of the nation's 10 golds — were earned in speed skating.

Francesca Lollobrigida led the charge. On the first day of competition, which also happened to be her 35th birthday, she stormed to 3000m gold in Olympic record time. Five days later, she collected another top prize in the 5000m, marking Italy's first Olympic gold in the distance for either men or women.

The trio of Davide Ghiotto, Michele Malfatti, and Andrea Giovannini pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the 2026 Games, outpacing the world record-holding U.S. men's team pursuit squad en route to Italy's first gold in the event since 2006 — the last Italian Winter Games.

Giovannini added a bronze in the men's mass start. Riccardo Lorello made a surprise podium appearance in the 5000m, finishing 3rd.

FULL EVENT REPLAY: Men's 10,000m

As technology and training resources improve, athletes are finding ways to challenge the limits historically placed on them regarding age, heath, and even parenthood status. Nowhere was that more apparent than at the 2026 Games.

Czechia's Metodej Jilek powered his way to gold in the 10,000m, becoming just the second-ever male teenager to finish first in an Olympic speed skating event. The first was Russian Igor Malkov, who won the 10,000m at 19 years and nine days old in 1984. 

Bergsma grabbed the final spot on the podium in 10,000m, making him the oldest-ever Olympic speed skating medalist at age 40. One week later, he became the oldest speed skater to win Olympic gold with his mass start win.

Manganello and Lollobrigida set similar age records on the women's side. 

At 36 years and 117 days old, Manganello now stands as the oldest American to earn an Olympic speed skating medal. Lollobrigida, who turned 35 the day of her 3000m win, became the oldest speed skater to win Olympic gold in the distance.