The 2025-26 Speed Skating World Cup will wrap up in Inzell, Germany, beginning Friday, Jan. 23 — exactly two weeks out from the beginning of the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The fifth and final leg of the circuit will serve as a final tune-up for many of the athletes heading to Milan Cortina. Speed skating at the Olympics begins Feb. 7 with the women's 3000m.
All events are available to watch on mobile, tablet and connected TV devices via Peacock and NBCOlympics.com.
| Day | Events | Time (ET) | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri, 1/23 | Women's 500m (1) | 12:30-12:53 p.m. | Peacock |
| Men's 500m (1) | 12:58-1:21 p.m. | Peacock | |
| Women's 1500m | 1:37-2:12 p.m. | Peacock | |
| Men's 1500m | 2:17-2:51 p.m. | Peacock | |
| Sat, 1/24 | Women's 1000m | 8:30-8:58 a.m | Peacock |
| Men's 1000m | 9:03-9:30 a.m. | Peacock | |
| Women's 3000m | 9:56-10:40 a.m. | Peacock | |
| Men's 5000m | 10:52-11:54 a.m. | Peacock | |
| Sun, 1/25 | Women's 500m (2) | 8-8:23 a.m. | Peacock |
| Men's 500m (2) | 8:28-8:51 a.m. | Peacock | |
| Women's Mass Start | 9:21-9:33 a.m. | Peacock | |
| Men's Mass Start | 9:42-9:54 a.m. | Peacock | |
| Women's Team Sprint | 10:20-10:35 a.m. | Peacock | |
| Men's Team Sprint | 10:40-10:55 a.m. | Peacock |
Several U.S. skaters will look to lock up overall season titles in Inzell.
Jordan Stolz currently leads in all three sprints one year, having won the last 10 straight races in his signature distances — the last six of which he finished in track record times. Last season, after an unprecedented 18-straight World Cup victories, he earned the overall season title in each distance for the first time.
He also enters the weekend ranked 5th in the mass start, an event he added to his program just this season. At the Hamar World Cup in December, he skated to his first gold medal in the distance. He is the winningest skater on this year's circuit, man or woman, with 16 total prizes (14 gold).
In Milan Cortina, the 21-year-old could become just the second American to win three or more gold medals in any sport at one Winter Olympics. The first was fellow Wisconsinite Eric Heiden, who won all five speed skating events at the 1980 Lake Placid Games.
With a medal of every color this season, Mia Manganello sits atop the standings in the women's mass start. The 36-year-old, who plans to retire after the 2026 Olympics, opened her final World Cup season with a win on her home ice in Salt Lake City, her first in the mass start in her 16-year-long career.
The team sprint trio of Conor McDermott-Mostowy, Cooper McLeod, and Zach Stoppelmoor took silver in the event's first appearance of the season at the Heerenveen World Cup, finishing less than one second behind the Dutch team, which skated to a track record. With a win in the race in Inzell, the U.S. contingent could clinch its third-consecutive World Cup title in the event.
In January 2025, the team — skating with Austin Kleba instead of McDermott-Mostowy — shaved 0.19 seconds off the world record, becoming the first trio to crack 1 minute, 17 seconds in the event.
In Inzell, Erin Jackson and Brittany Bowe will go for their first gold medals of the season.
Jackson, the reigning Olympic champion in the women's 500m who earned the last two season titles in the distance, is ranked 3rd after a hamstring injury forced her to sit out the race at World Cup No. 3 and skate cautiously in Hamar. Through the first two World Cups, Jackson collected two silvers and one bronze in the distance.
Bowe, who also plans to retire after this season, has finished inside the top six of each of her individual races so far this season. Entering the weekend in Inzell, she sits in 3rd in the 1000m and 5th in the 1500m. She has skated to just one individual podium finish on this year's circuit, a bronze in the 1500m.
The two will have to battle a deep Dutch field led by Femke Kok, Joy Beune, and Jutta Leerdam. Kok, who broke the 500m world record at the season opener in Salt Lake City, has not lost a 500m race in almost two years. She and the other Dutch women have swept the podium in the distance twice this season. Beune is undefeated in the women’s 1500m and 3000m on this year's circuit, while Leerdam, who took 1000m silver at the Beijing Olympics, has won two of her three races in the distance. Marrit Fledderus and Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong are ranked 2nd in the 1000m and 1500m, respectively.
Stolz also will find his greatest challenge in the Dutch. Kjeld Nuis has finished just behind Stolz in the last two 1500m races, and Jenning de Boo has beaten Stolz in the 500m twice this season. He sits just 52 points behind Stolz in the 1000m rankings.
The Netherlands leads all countries with 54 World Cup medals this year. The United States' 28 is the second-highest total.
The action begins Friday, Jan. 23, with the men's and women's first 500m and concludes Sunday, Jan. 25, with both team sprint events.