Jordan Stolz heads into speed skating worlds with World Cup success

American Jordan Stolz is rolling into the world speed skating championships.

Stolz, the 18-year-old who honed his skating on the pond behind the family house north of Milwaukee, won a 1500m at the World Cup Finals on Friday, beating two-time reigning Olympic champion Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands.

Stolz clocked 1 minute, 45.44 seconds, a track record in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland, to distance Nuis by 72 hundredths of a second.

The World Cup stop, which airs live on Peacock, has more races Saturday and Sunday. Then come the world championships in the Netherlands in two weeks, where Stolz is a medal contender in the 500m, 1000m and 1500m.

Last week, Stolz swept the 500m, 1000m and 1500m at the world junior championships, plus earned bronze medals in the other two individual events (5000m and mass start).

Earlier this season, Stolz became the youngest man to win a World Cup race and broke his American record in the 500m.

Last February, Stolz became the third-youngest U.S. Olympic male speed skater in history and finished 13th and 14th in his Olympic debut.

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Swiss Marco Odermatt overtook Austrian Marco Schwarz to win the giant slalom at the world Alpine skiing championships, coupling with his downhill title from last week.

Odermatt, who trailed Schwarz by 58 hundredths after the first of two runs, prevailed after Schwarz made last mistakes in his second run. Schwarz’s lead dwindled to 18 hundredths at the last intermediate split with 17 seconds left to ski, but he ended up four tenths behind and in third place.

“The emotions in the downhill were way bigger,” said Odermatt, whose best events are giant slalom and super-G. “That was a surprise for me, for everybody. Now I had a gold