Japan’s Tatsuya Shinhama Skates to 1st 500 Win of Season

By Yu Hirasawa/Yomiuri Shimbun Sports Writer

15:40 JST, February 3, 2025

MILWAUKEE — Japan’s Tatsuya Shinhama raced to his first World Cup victory of the season, edging local favorite and previously unbeaten Jordan Stolz in a men’s 500 meters on Sunday, the final day of a three-day meet in Milwaukee, Wis.

Shinhama, 28, paired with Stolz in the third-to-last group, got off to a fast start and held off the American to win by .05 seconds in 34.14. Canada’s Laurent Dubreuil was third in 34.35.

“He’s an opponent who everyone in the world wants to beat,” Shinhama said of the 20-year-old Stolz. “To be able to directly race against him and beat him gives me a huge boost in confidence.”

Shinhama, who finished sixth in the first of the meet’s two 500 races on Saturday, said he stayed focused amid the vociferous cheering from the home crowd for Stolz, a Wisconsin native.

“I told myself to keep my concentration and just focus on my race,” Shinhama said.