American Jordan Stolz, who added the event to his program this season, finished 4th.
The other skaters in the race knew Stolz could likely beat them in the sprints. At times, they even attempted to force him into the lead in order to drain his energy. But Stolz never wavered from his own plan, traveling in the middle of the pack when he could and keeping the pace slow when he landed in front.
He relied on the other skaters to chase Bergsma and Thorup and use their energy as the laps ticked by, but when no one did, he began to hesitantly push toward the finish. He ended the race just off the podium pace, missing out on 3rd by 0.11 seconds.
“If I would have known that [the other skaters were] reluctant to chase … I probably would have attacked a little bit more,” Stolz said. “But if I would have done that, they would have just followed me, and it would’ve just cancelled out [my effort].”
Still, Stolz views his Olympic appearance as a success, he said. At just 21 years old, he now owns three Olympic medals: two gold (500m, 1000m) and one silver (1500m). He raced the shorter two sprints in Olympic record time.
“I’ve had some great races here. Some could’ve been better, but I think [this is] actually a good result,” he said. “I’ll continue to improve.”