Americans Erin Jackson and Jordan Stolz won speed skating World Cup races in the absence of their top Dutch rivals on Friday and Saturday.
The Olympic gold medalist Jackson won the 500m in 38.08 seconds, edging Dutch short track star Suzanne Schulting by nine hundredths in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland, on Friday.
She won another 500m on Sunday in 37.81, prevailing by 11 hundredths over Schulting.
Jackson has third wins in nine 500m races this season. She has moved into the World Cup season standings lead at the distance ahead of Andzelika Wojcik of Poland. There are two more World Cup 500m races this season next weekend in the Netherlands.
Jackson has dealt with health issues, and a back injury in particular, while remaining one of the top sprinters in the world since winning the 2022 Olympic 500m.
“As I get more comfortable with the back and taking some more risks with it, then I guess we’ll see,” she said Friday, according to the International Skating Union. “But I think I’ll probably save that for the World Championships (in Hamar, Norway, in March).”
Stolz won both the 500m and the 1500m on Friday and then the 1000m on Saturday before placing fifth in a 500m on Sunday. He has 21 wins in his last 23 World Cup races dating back more than one year.
Stolz clocked 34.49 in Friday’s 500m, topping Canadian Laurent Dubreuil by 24 hundredths.
About 90 minutes later, he won the 1500m in 1:45.08, edging Peder Kongshaug of Norway by four thousandths of a second.
Then on Saturday, he took the 1000m in a track record 1:08.42, beating Dutchman Kjeld Nuis by 36 hundredths.
Stolz won a men’s record 18 consecutive World Cup races from February 2024 up to a runner-up in the 500m on Feb. 2 in Milwaukee. That run included victories across the 500m, 1000m and 1500m.
Since Milwaukee, Stolz had strep throat and pneumonia, according to the ISU.
“I’m not in too bad of shape, as we could see,” he said Friday, according to a press release. “I think if I wouldn’t have been sick the past two weeks, it could have been much faster, but I’m happy with how it went.”
Stolz has won seven consecutive World Cup races in the 1500m alone, a record streak for a man in the event. He is up to nine consecutive victories in the 1000m, two shy of Shani Davis’ men’s record.
Most of the top Dutch skaters skipped this weekend’s World Cup, which takes place one week after the Dutch trials for the World Championships and one week before the Netherlands hosts the last World Cup of the season.
Those not competing this week included sprinters Femke Kok, the two-time reigning women’s 500m world champion, and Jenning de Boo, who has been the top challenger to Stolz this season in the 500m and the 1000m.
