The state that churns out beer, cheese—and the fastest speedskater alive

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Milan: Jordan Stolz was always destined to be the next great American speedskater. He’s got tree-trunk thighs, impeccable balance and a stunningly high tolerance for the horrific pain required to chase four gold medals in Milan.

But before he even laced up his first pair of skates, one crucial twist of fate broke his way to make all of this possible—and it’s one that he had absolutely no control over at all. Stolz was born in Wisconsin. Most of the time, Wisconsinites are best known for their love of cheese curds, beers and braving subzero temperatures at Lambeau Field.

But introduce a 400-meter oval and a pair of razor-sharp skates, and proud cheeseheads turn into something else entirely: some of the fastest athletes in the world. “He’s very lucky," said Jeff Brand, Stolz’s first coach, “to have been born in this area." Specifically, the area that contains the most influential rink in American speedskating. The Pettit National Ice Center, in Milwaukee, is one of two Olympic-grade long-track ovals in the entire U.S.

And it possesses a strange power to turn Midwestern kids into motorcycles on ice. If the luckiest thing an aspiring speedskater can do is grow up in the Netherlands—the Dutch hold a record 133 Olympic medals in the discipline—then the next best option is to be raised within driving distance of the Pettit. Since the 1980 Games, Americans have won 19 gold medals at the Olympics in long-track speedskating, and 16 of them were won by skaters either raised or trained in Wisconsin.

Stolz, 21, is just the latest contender to roll off the conveyor belt. He was 5 years old when he and his sister became obsessed with American short-track legend Apolo Anton Ohno. So his father Dirk, a