MILAN, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Jordan Stolz is speed skating's hottest property heading into Wednesday's men's 1,000 metres at the Milano Cortina Winter Games, but a pack of seasoned challengers led by three-times Olympic champion Kjeld Nuis are ready to crash the American's party.
The 21-year-old Stolz arrived in Milan as the sport's most talked-about skater and the leading contender for three individual events - the 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m - while also eyeing the unpredictable mass start.
He begins his Milano-Cortina campaign in the 1,000m, the event in which he already holds a world record.
Since making his Olympic debut as a 17-year-old in Beijing with modest finishes of 13th in the 500m and 14th in the 1,000m, Stolz has transformed into a world-beating sprinter, collecting six world championship titles.
But the 36-year-old Nuis, chasing a fourth Games title after victories in the 1,000m and 1,500m at Pyeongchang 2018 and the 1,500m at Beijing 2022, is not ready to concede defeat.
"Jordan is the man to beat but behind him there are so many guys with serious chances — including myself," Nuis said on Tuesday. "I'm really looking forward to it. It'll be a thrilling battle, and I'm totally up for that."
For Nuis, Milano Cortina is his Olympic swansong.
"My parents will be there, and finally my son as well, which is truly remarkable," said the Dutchman, who holds world and Olympic records in the 1,500m. "This will be my final Olympics, so I intend to thoroughly enjoy it."
The Dutch squad enters buoyed up by Jutta Leerdam's storming 1,000m gold in the women's event on Monday, leading a Dutch one-two with Femke Kok.
Among their medal hopes is 23-year-old Joep Wennemars, the 2025 world champion in the 1,000m and son of former world sprint champion Erben Wennemars, who knows what is required at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium.
"I think it's fair to say a record will be needed and everyone will be skating extremely hard," the younger Wennemars said.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Milan; editing by Clare Fallon)
