Jordan Stolz (USA) beat Finn Sonnekalb (GER) in the first race of what could become one of the biggest rivalries in speed skating for years to come. The 18-year-old German came just .21 seconds short of gold against his American idol to take silver in the 1500m at the ISU World Cup in Calgary on Saturday.

In the 500m, Stolz had to settle for bronze. Kim Jun-Ho (KOR) took gold with the only sub-34-second race in the field and Jenning de Boo (NED) seized silver.

Sonnekalb challenges Stolz

The top five skaters in the men’s 1500m finished within a half-second margin. After Joep Wennemars (NED) beat Tim Prins (NED) by .02 seconds in the seventh pairing with a time of one minute and 42.54 seconds, Kjeld Nuis (NED) took over first place in 1:42.42 in the next pair.

When Stolz and Sonnekalb took to the ice in the penultimate pairing, the three Dutchman were still on top of the leaderboard.

It was the first time Stolz and Sonnekalb had faced each other in an official race and there was more than just a World Cup medal at stake. 

“I didn't want to lose to him, because he got my junior World Record last week,” Stolz said.

Jordan Stolz (USA) on the 1500m podium with Finn Sonnekalb (GER), left, and Kjeld Nuis (NED) at the ISU World Cup in Calgary. © ISU

Both Stolz and Sonnekalb started a little faster than Nuis, but their first two full laps were a bit slower. 

At 1100m, Sonnekalb was .62 behind Nuis’s split time, but also .08 seconds ahead of Stolz.

Then, the World Cup leader famously shifted to his trademark final-lap extra gear to reel in Sonnekalb. Stolz finished in 1:42.10, .21 seconds ahead of his German challenger. 

“I was surprised,” Stolz said about his last-lap power, “because I was feeling pretty tired going into that.”

Yet, Stolz had saved a little for the last lap on purpose.

“I wanted to go out smooth and not burn up too many matches in the beginning, because I was really not feeling it in the vibe today. So I just wanted to save in the middle for the last lap, and that’s what I did.”

For Sonnekalb, simply racing Stolz was exciting, let alone being as close as he was to beating him.

Finn Sonnekalb (GER) had the 1500m lead heading into the last lap, but settled for second behind Jordan Stolz (USA) on Saturday. © ISU

“It’s crazy,” he said. “It’s a childhood dream for me to skate against him. At the 1100m split, I was ahead, so I thought I could beat him, but he was so strong. He saw me on the last lap, and I need to train a little bit more for that. Maybe next time, but we will see.”

Nuis was happy to take bronze.

“A nice little race,” he said afterwards with a smile. “I had two mistakes. I had to get my hand on the ice again, that seems to become a habit now and it annoys me a bit, but on the other hand, two- or three-10ths of a second … I might have well just won here. In that case, I would have been over the moon, but I’m super close and that’s something I’m really proud of.”

Kjeld Nuis took 1500m bronze on Saturday at the ISU World Cup in Calgary. © ISU

Nuis also skated with Olympic qualification in the back of his mind. With five Dutchman in the top-10, and only three slots per country in the distance at the Olympic Games, the Dutch Olympic trials in December are going to be a bloodbath. 

“I’ve skated three times now (including the Dutch championships) and I was the best Dutchman three times. That’s what it’s all about. And finishing top-three here shows that I’m able to skate for the victory.”

Kim finds right balance in sprint

In the men’s 500m, Kim Jun-Ho (KOR) found the right balance between a fast opener and a solid full lap. The Korean took his career-third World Cup gold in 33.99 after a 9.39-second opener. 

Yevgeniy Koshkin (KAZ) only needed 9.31 seconds to complete the first 100m, posting the fastest opener in speed-skating history, but the Kazak skater struggled to stay upright on the last inner corner, losing momentum along the way, to finish 17th in 34.65 seconds.

Yevgeniy Koshkin (KAZ) recorded the fastest opener in speed-skating history before fading to 17th at the ISU World Cup on Saturday. © ISU

Jenning de Boo (NED) skated the fastest full lap of the field in 24.35 seconds, but the Dutch World Champion struggled in the opener, posting 9.67 after an initial false start. It eventually left him in second place in 34.02.

“It’s nice to get the fastest full lap, but it doesn’t get you anything. The lap was good, but the opener was lousy. I dare say that I could have won here. (Kim) opened 9.3, that means that I had to make up a lot after 9.67. I think my fastest opener ever is 9.53.” 

Jenning de Boo (NED) had the fastest full lap of the day in the 1500m, but settled for silver after a poor start Saturday in Calgary. © ISU

Behind de Boo, Stolz took third place. The American managed to open in 9.53 seconds, but he couldn’t pull through in the full lap. 

“My start is good right now, but I don’t really have the lap yet because I haven’t really done a lot of tempo type training, so that’s where the races come in, to fix that.”