MILAN, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- American skater Jordan Stolz stormed to gold in the men's 1,000m speed skating at Milan-Cortina 2026 on Wednesday, clocking an Olympic-record of one minute 06.28 seconds, as China's Ning Zhongyan took bronze for his maiden Olympic podium.

USA's Jordan Stolz celebrates winning gold and breaking the Olympic record after the speed skating men's 1000m during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at Milano Speed Skating Stadium in Milan on February 11, 2026. (Photo: AFP)

"Today's performance was close to perfect. In the first 600 meters, I really delivered my best form. In the last 400 meters, my drop in speed was slightly beyond what I had planned. But I achieved my goal of winning a medal, which is a big boost to my confidence," Ning told Xinhua after the race.

21-year-old Stolz broke the previous Olympic mark of 1:07.18 set by Dutch skater Gerard van Velde at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games - before he was even born - 0.5 seconds ahead of silver medalist Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands. Skating in the 14th pair, the duo posted the fastest times of the day.

"It (the gold) means a lot to me. The last one [Olympic Winter Games] was four years ago. It's every four years that you get the chance to win Olympic gold, so I'm super happy," Stolz said at the press conference after the event.

Ning clocked 1:07.34 while skating in the 12th pair to secure the bronze medal.

"The ice today was very good and fast. Many Olympic athletes broke Olympic records here. This is my best result at low altitude, so I'm very satisfied with today's performance," said Ning.

Ning's Dutch coach, Johan de Wit, said they were very happy "because this is the first time Ning is on the podium."

"I was amazed, he did a really good job," De Wit added.

Earlier in the 11th pair, China's Lian Ziwen collided with the Netherlands' Joep Wennemars in the lane-change zone. Under speed skating rules, the inner lane skater must avoid contact during lane changes. Lian, who was in the inner lane, was disqualified following the incident, which caused a brief delay.

Wennemars was granted a re-skate and eventually finished fifth.