#SpeedSkating

Jordan Stolz (USA) made it four out of four on the final day of the ISU Four Continents Championships in Hachinohe City (JPN). After gold in the 1500m and the 500m, the American phenomenon joined Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran to win the Team Pursuit on Sunday, before capping off the weekend with a track record in the 1000m. Vitaliy Chshigolev (KAZ) concluded the championships by winning the first Kazakh title of the weekend in the Mass Start.

Stolz the newbie in golden Team USA 

As defending champions and world record holders American trio Ethan Cepuran, Emery Lehman and Casey Dawson know what a Team Pursuit is about. Jordan Stolz, for his part, had never competed in the event before he got on the ice to replace Dawson in Hachinohe City on Sunday.

With Stolz pushing at the back, Lehman in second and Cepuran up front, Team USA skated a track record time of three minutes and 43.13 seconds to take gold. Leaving Japan (Seitaro Ichinohe, Riku Tsuchiya, Shomu Sasaki) 1.34s behind, and Canada (Connor Howe, Ted-Jan Bloemen, Hayden Mayeur) 4.30s.

Ethan Cepuran leads out USA teammates Emery Lehman and Jordan Stolz on their way to retaining their Four Continents Team Pursuit title © ISU

Lehman explained why the experienced squad asked the World Allround champion to join the team.

“We were just looking to see if Jordan was interested to do it.

“As we saw from the Olympics [Beijing 2022], it's good to have four strong people in case something happens. So we're definitely open to including him. He's a phenomenal skater and, as you can see, he can skate the Team Pursuit as well.”

“We're trying to figure out what position will be best,” Lehman said. 

“We really didn't have any practice. The first time doing that order, was this morning in warm up, and it just worked out pretty well. If we just get a little more practice with him. we can go even better.” 

Stolz himself admitted to having suffered through the race. 

“It was the first one I did, and I was hurting about halfway through,” he said. “The last two laps are hurting pretty bad, I finished, and it hurt like a 1500m.”

Although his teammates are happy to have him, Stolz doesn’t know whether he’ll join the squad for the World Cup series. 

“I don't want it to affect my other races. I want to be as focused as I can on the three distances that I do, but we'll see,” he promised.

Lehman added: “This was a good competition to try it out. We know Jordan's going to have big weekends coming up at the World Cup, so this is kind of a good opportunity for him, but if he wants to do one, and he's feeling good, we're open to including him.” 

Swift turnaround can't stop Stolz

After already breaking the 1500m track record on Friday, Stolz also set a new mark in the 1000m on Sunday, stopping the clock at one minute and 8.04 seconds. He was 0.63s faster than the 2021 record set by Tatsuya Shinhama (JPN), but before Stolz took the ice, Shinhama had already broken his own record with a time of 1:08.38. The Japanese sprinter eventually took silver ahead of Laurent Dubreuil (CAN), who grabbed bronze in 1:09.04.

Stolz did not have too much time to recover after his efforts in the Team Pursuit. It seemed to have affected his speed in the first half of the 1000m, as he was 0.23s down on Shinhama’s time at the 600m split. Skating an unmatched 26.4 final lap, at least half a second faster than the rest of the field, Stolz managed to pull out a win anyway. 

Stolz won his fourth gold medal of this ISU Four Continents Championships in the 1000m, adding a track record despite a short turnaround after the Pursuit © ISU

He admitted that the short turnaround between events was a challenge.

“I got off the ice quickly, ran up to start eating, and drink some coffee, and started to rest a little bit. It was more of a mental thing to prepare for the 1000m. From when I actually finished, I think it was an hour, so it was all just enough to get some food in,” said Stolz.

“Going into the 1000m I had lactate in the first 200 meters, and then last lap I was behind, I threw two arms down on the max. That was a mental thing, because I don't want to slow down. You have got to keep a high rhythm on, and I think it helped.”

Dubreuil happy with no-swing strategy

Swinging the arms is just what Dubreuil decided not to do in his 1000m race. The Canadian sprinter copied the hands-on-the-back strategy Ireen Wüst (NED) and Kjeld Nuis (NED) used in their golden Olympic 1500m races at Beijing 2022. 

Laurent Dubreuil (CAN) spent most of his 1000m with his arms behind his back, picking up bronze with the experimental technique © ISU

“I was trying two arms on the back for the first time in a competition. I’ve done it a few times in training last month, and I was happy with it,” he explained.

Dubreuil was happy with his time compared to Shinhama’s too – the Canadian considers Stolz just a little too high a bar at the moment.

“Shinhama seems to be really good this year. He was good last year too, winning a few medals. And then this year, he set the track record in Nagano, and then here, before Jordan beat him. So it's two of the guys, they might finish first and second next week. Who knows? I'd like to be a little bit closer. But 1:09.04, it's quite good for the first one this year.”

Shinhama, in turn, looks at Stolz as his main benchmark, especially his exceptional last lap.

“Jordan Stolz also races the 1500m and that gives him more power in the second part of the race. I have to train my endurance a bit more to also improve my last lap,” said the Japanese skater.

Chshigolev edges out Canadians 

In the Mass Start, Vitaliy Chshigolev (KAZ) concluded the ISU Four Continents Championships by winning Kazakhstan’s first title of the weekend. He caught up with David La Rue (CAN) and Hayden Mayeur (CAN), who had chased down early escapee Kierryn Hughes (NZL) together. 

Hughes couldn’t keep up with the Canadians and dropped back into the pack, while Chshigolev managed to follow. With the pack hesitating, the three held on to a 50m lead heading into the final lap. La Rue tried to make a final jump for gold, but Chshigolev pipped him to the line. 

Vitaliy Chshigolev (KAZ), left, edges out David La Rue (CAN), right, in the closing stages of the Men's Mass Start © ISU

Mayeur took bronze and expressed his surprise at the way the race had panned out.

“We had absolutely no plans. We were actually expecting a bit of a sprint finish today. I think everybody was looking at each other,” he said.

“There was a relatively competitive field this year at the Four Continents [Championships], that’s always up or down depending on the year. Quite a few guys that could have won today, and a lot of people were wasting time looking at each other.

“Dave [La Rue] just decided to get out of the mix a bit. and I took a couple of steps and went with him. When we looked back half a lap later, we were 50 meters up, and we said, we might as well go, and we noticed the pack kept looking at each other and not really doing much about us. Then, with four or five laps to go, you have no chance but to commit."

La Rue, Chshigolev and Dubreuil shared the Mass Start medals after breaking from the pack to establish a 50m lead heading into the final lap © ISU

La Rue added: “We didn't work together [with Chshigolev]. I feel like we [himself and Mayeur] were doing most of the work, but fair enough. We kept going and with a lap-and-a-half to go, I just went for it. Then I just slipped in the last corner, unfortunately.”

“But we cannot can ask for more to start the season off; it gets you ready mentally for the World Cups.” 

ISU Four Continents Championships Program

The ISU Four Continents tournament starts with the Team Sprint followed by the 1500m for both genders on Friday. The Saturday program features the 500m for both genders, the women’s 3000m and the men’s 5000m, and on Sunday both genders will compete in the Team Pursuit and 1000m before the Championships close off with the Mass Start. 

Schedule & Where to Watch:

• Friday, November 15 - 14:00-16:22: Team Sprint Women Team Sprint Men 1500m Women 1500m Men
• Saturday, November 16 - 14:00 -17:27: 500m Women  500m Men 3000m Women  5000m Men
• Sunday, November 17 - 14:00-17:15: Team Pursuit Women Team Pursuit Men  1000m Women  1000m Men  Mass Start Women Mass Start Men

Where to Watch

For schedules and results of the ISU Four Continents Speed Skating Championships, please visit the event’s webpage.