MILWAUKEE — A home-schooled teenager who lives out in the country near Kewaskum could be the next local Olympic hero.
It sounds like a movie. But Jordan Stolz could be on the fast track to stardom. Stolz says right now his biggest challenge is getting caught up on his home schooling. And keep in mind, he won't turn 18 until May 21, and he doesn't graduate until 2023.
When we first told you about Stolz, the 2022 Olympics were a long shot.
Repoter Lance Allan: "How realistic in your mind now is 2022?"
"I think it's pretty realistic. I have a really good opportunity," Stolz says. "I just have to get into a certain amount of points in the times. And I already have the time from the last World Cup, in comparison. So I think I have a really good chance."
"He's sitting in the driver's seat right now," Bob Corby says. "After winning the 500 and the thousand at this latest competition for World Cup trials."
Stolz put the world on notice. A junior Olympian setting a world record.
"My first race didn't go very well. I was kind of like rushing it," Stolz says. "It is a bit early in the season, so it's hard to keep it together. But the next day I relaxed. Brought it together. And then got the world records."
"Up on the one corner, there was a whole lot of Milwaukee people. And we were all screamin'. And everybody else in the building's jaw was dropped," Corby says. "Like what did that kid just do?"
Stolz is a 17-and-half-year-old home-schooled junior from near Kewaskum. But at this stage, he's being compared to the greats.
"You don't know what's going to happen," Corby says. "But as for right now, as a 17-year-old with potential, he is looking like as much potential as a Dan Jansen or an Eric Heiden."
Lance Allan: "At 17 years old, do you even realize young man what you accomplished?"
"I mean a little bit, yeah," Stolz says. "But just gotta keep working. Maybe see what happens in the future, especially for coming up at the Olympics."
And with the U.S. Speedskating trials set to begin in two months at the Pettit National Ice Center, fame is about to come to the Jordan Stolz name.
Lance Allan: "So you're a quiet kid from the middle of nowhere, near Kewaskum. But yet you're making big noise. Is that an accurate statement?"
"Yeah I'd say so," Stolz says with a laugh. "Uh huh. Yeah."
