Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 Preview: Speedskating

Speedskating includes both long track (where one skater at a time races around a 400-meter-long loop) and short track (the more fast-paced event where four to six skaters at a time race around an ice rink).

For the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, long track will be held at the Milano Speedskating Stadium. Short track will be held at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, about 15 miles south of the speedskating oval on the outskirts of Milano.



Another of winter’s original sports, long-track speed skating has been on the Olympic Winter Games program since the first Games in 1924, where men contested 500-, 1500-, 5000-, and 10,000 meter races. Women’s races were added at the 1960 Winter Games. In 2006, the team pursuit was added, with the mass start becoming an Olympic event in 2018.

The team pursuit features three athletes competing in an elimination race to reach the final. In the mass start, all athletes start together and race head-to-head. It is the only long-track event with more than two skaters on the ice at one time.

Since 1924, U.S. speed skaters have won 71 medals — third in the standings behind the Netherlands (133) and Norway (87).
 With six Olympic Winter Games medals, Bonnie Blair holds the record for the most medals won by a U.S. speed skater. Eric Heiden sits second with five gold medals, all won at the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games. Chad Hedrick also won five medals at the 2006 and 2010 Games.


The U.S. men have not won any medals in an individual race since the 2010 Winter Games where Shani Davis claimed gold in the 1000 m and silver in the 1500 m. Hedrick won bronze in the 1000 m at the same Games.

In women’s competition, Erin Jackson is the defending gold medalist in the 500 m. Brittany Bowe claimed bronze in the 1000 at the 2022 Beijing Games. The U.S. women also won a bronze medal in the team pursuit in 2018 event at PyeongChang.

No U.S. speedskater has ever won an Olympic medal in the women’s 5000 or men’s and women’s mass starts.



500 m: Since the 1924 Winter Games, the U.S. men have won seven golds in the 500 m. Their last gold medal: Casey FitzRandolph in 2002. U.S. women have won six golds in the 500 m, including Blair’s run of three (1988, 1992, 1994) and Jackson’s gold at the 2022 Winter Games.


1000 m: Five golds (men), including Davis’s back-to-back wins in 2006 and 2010, and three for the women (Blair in 1992 and 1994 and Christine Witty in 2002).


1500 m: Three gold medals for the U.S. men (Jack Shea in 1932, Heiden in 1980 and Derek Parra in 2002). Only Dianne Holum has won gold at this distance for the women (1972).


3000 m (women only): No gold medals for the women at this distance. The last Olympic medal: Beth Heiden, bronze in 1980.


5000 m: Three gold medals for the men (Irving Jaffee in 1932, Heiden in 1980 and Hedrick in 2006). The U.S. women have never won an Olympic medal at this distance.


10,000 m (men only): Two gold medals for the men (Jaffee in 1932 and Heiden in 1980). Hedrick claimed silver at the 2006 Torino Games.

Team pursuit: The U.S. men have claimed two team pursuit medals: silver in 2010 and bronze in 2022. The women claimed bronze in 2018.

Look for Team USA to make some noise in long track speed skating at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games. Jordan Stolz is currently ranked number one in the world in the 500-, 1000-, and 1500-meter events and his speed is no doubt what’s behind Team USA’s top ranking in the team pursuit. At the 2023 and 2024 world single distance championships, the 21-year-old swept the 500-, 1000-, and 1500-meter titles. Recovering from pneumonia and strep throat, Stolz still won two silvers and a bronze at the 2025 world single distance championships.


In women’s speed skating, Jackson is still one of the best 500 m speed skaters in the world. At age 37, Bowe is also still one of the top-ranked 1000 m and 1500 m skaters. The two-time Olympic bronze medalist is aiming for her fourth Games. 


Mia Manganello Kilburg, who along with Bowe was on the women’s team pursuit squad that won bronze in 2018, is the top-ranked mass start speed skater in the world. Look for her to break the U.S.’s Olympic Winter Games medal drought in that event.


Most of the 2022 Olympic bronze-medal-winning men’s team pursuit is back: Ethan Cepuran, Casey Dawson, and Emery Lehman. Only Joey Mantia has retired.



Long track speedskating competition begins on February 7 with medals awarded on:

February 7 (Women’s 3000 m)

February 8 (Men’s 5000 m)

February 9 (Women’s 1000 m)

February 11 (Men’s 1000 m)

February 12 (Women’s 5000 m)

February 13 (Men’s 10,000 m)

February 14 (Women’s 500 m)

February 15 (Men’s 500 m)

February 17 (Men’s and Women’s Team Pursuit)

February 19 (Men’s 1500 m)

February 20 (Women’s 1500 m)

February 21 (Men’s and Women’s Mass Start)



Short track speed skating is one of the most exciting winter sports. Athletes race around a rink so tight — 111.12-meter loop — that they often touch their inside hands to the ice. In multi-skater races, collisions and falls happen all too often.

It was a demonstration sport at the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary, then became a medal sport four years later, with two individual races and two relays. Since the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, short track has expanded to eight events: 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m and relays for both genders. The women’s relay is 3000 m, the men’s 5000 m. At the 2022 Beijing Games, the mixed team relay made the Olympic Winter Games program.

In the 500 m and 1000 m races, five speed skaters compete in each heat, while seven skaters compete in the 1500 m event. Mixed relay teams are made up of two women and two men racing in this order: woman-woman-man-man-woman-woman-man-man.



Only two U.S. short track speed skaters have ever won Olympic gold: Apolo Anton Ohno (1500 m in 2002 and 500 m in 2006) and Cathy Turner (500 m at the 1992 and 1994 Winter Games). Ohno also won six more Olympic medals from the 2002 to 2010 Winter Games.



The U.S. men last won a short track speed skating medal at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games (John-Henry Krueger, silver in the 1000 m). Katherine Reutter’s silver in the 1000 m at the 2010 Vancouver Games, along with the U.S. women taking bronze in the team pursuit at the same Games, were the last Olympic medals won by U.S. women.

Other U.S. Olympic Winter Games medalists in individual events include Rusty Smith (500 m bronze, 2002), J.R. Celski (1500 m bronze, 2010) and Amy Peterson (500 m bronze, 1994).

U.S. team pursuit squads won Olympic silver or bronze medals in 1992 (women), 1994 (men and women), 2006 (men), 2010 (men and women) and 2014 (men).



Look for the U.S. women to make an impact in short track speedskating at Milano Cortina 2026. Leading the team is 2022 Olympian Kristen Santos-Griswold, 31, who won medals in every race at the 2024 world short track championships, including gold in the 1000m and medals in both the 3000m relay and 2000m mixed relay.

Just ahead of Santos-Griswold in the 2025 world tour standings, Corinne Stoddard is also a favorite to medal at Milano Cortina 2026. The 24-year-old won her first individual world tour medals this season and finished ranked third in the 500 and 1000 standings and fourth in the 1500.

For the men, 2022 Olympian Andrew Heo, 24, scored his first world tour gold medal in December 2025 — a confidence booster going into his second Olympic Winter Games. He is also a world championship bronze medalist in the mixed relay (2024). World cup relay medalist Brandon Kim, 24, could also be a key skater for Team USA in the Olympic relays.

Short track competition begins on February 10 with medals awarded on:

February 10 (Mixed Team Relay)

February 12 (Women’s 500 m & Men’s 1000 m)

February 14 (Men’s 1500 m)

February 16 (Women’s 1000 m)

February 18 (Women’s 3000 m relay & Men’s 500 m)

February 20 (Men’s 5000 m relay & Women’s 1500 m)