Fans Think Winter Olympic Star Jordan Stolz Has a Girlfriend… They're Half Right

When Jordan Stolz rockets around the long-track oval at upwards of 35 miles per hour, the pressure is immense. World records. Olympic medals. An entire sport watching to see what the 21-year-old phenom from Kewaskum, Wisconsin, will do next. But when the "Milwaukee Missile" finally comes home from months on the World Cup circuit, the welcome committee isn't waiting with cameras or microphones. It's a pair of rescue cats named Mitzi and Silver—and honestly, that might be exactly what makes him unstoppable.

A Cat Showed Up in a Wisconsin Winter

The Stolz family lives on 65 acres of rural Wisconsin land, the kind of wide-open property where deer roam freely and winter arrives with teeth. It was during one of those bitter cold stretches that a scrappy cat appeared at their door, hungry and looking for shelter.

"She came to our house in the winter, looking for food to eat," Jordan told Nulo, his pet nutrition partner. "We took her in, and it took her about a month to get used to us."

That cat was Mitzi, now roughly nine years old and very much the queen of the Stolz household. The family had already rescued another cat, Silver, from the streets during a previous winter. When Mitzi arrived and spotted Silver, something clicked—the two became fast friends, and Mitzi officially joined the family.

Unconditional Love Between Races

Jordan's training schedule is relentless. He spends five months of the year traveling for World Cup competitions across Europe and beyond. He's broken world records, won back-to-back World Championship titles, and at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, he captured two gold medals—in the 1,000-meter and 500-meter events—with Olympic record times in both.

But for all the hardware and accolades, Jordan is refreshingly grounded about what matters when the skates come off.

"I come back home and I get to see Mitzi again, and I miss her a lot," he said. "Mental health as an athlete is super important, and having Mitzi at home is just comforting. It's somewhere to escape from all the pressure."

Mitzi, for her part, has a simple routine: sleep, eat, beg for more food, repeat. Jordan describes their bond as "unconditional love"—the kind of no-strings-attached companionship that doesn't care whether you just set an Olympic record or had the worst race of your career.

Rescue Roots Run Deep

The Stolz family's connection to animals goes far beyond house cats. Growing up, Jordan's parents, Dirk and Jane, ran a deer and elk breeding operation on their property. Tame deer would literally wander in and out of the family's basement like oversized house cats. His father also operated a taxidermy business, and his older sister Hannah has gone on to become a champion avian taxidermist.

It's an unconventional upbringing by any measure—one that gave Jordan an early appreciation for animals and the natural world. So when stray cats showed up on their doorstep in the dead of winter, taking them in wasn't even a question. It was just what you did.

Fueling Mitzi Like an Olympian

Jordan takes nutrition seriously. You don't shatter world records on pizza alone (though he does famously eat pizza daily before training). So when it came to choosing food for Mitzi, he applied the same performance-minded thinking.

"As an athlete, I know how important nutrition is for performance and just overall health," Jordan explained. "Of course, we want our pets to have the same thing—the best nutrition possible."

He partnered with Nulo, a pet food brand focused on high-protein, high-quality ingredients, and reports that Mitzi has noticeably better energy since switching. Her favorite? The Silky Mousse—every flavor. (Remember, this is a cat who loves food.)

Why This Story Matters for Pet Lovers

Jordan Stolz's story is a reminder that rescue animals show up when and where they're needed most. Mitzi didn't arrive through a shelter application or a breeder's website. She appeared at a door during a Wisconsin winter, hungry and cold, and a family chose to be patient—spending a month earning her trust with treats and warmth until she felt safe enough to stay.

For anyone considering adding a pet to their family, Jordan's experience is a beautiful case study in the unexpected ways rescue animals find their people. Sometimes the best companions aren't the ones you go looking for. Sometimes they just show up at your door.

And sometimes, when you come home exhausted from chasing gold on the other side of the world, they're the only welcome home that truly matters.