Casey Dawson closed his second Olympic Games with the men’s 1500 meters Thursday at the Milano Ice Park. Dawson, a Park City native, skated the distance two days after helping the United States to silver in the team pursuit with Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran, the trio’s last Olympic race toget her. Dawson came in 29th place in the 1500m, behind Lehman in 25th. Team USA’s Jordan Stolz took the silver medal, behind China’s Zhongyan Ning in the lead after breaking the Olympic record in the event with a time of 1 minute and 41.98 seconds. The Netherlands’ Kjeld Nuis claimed bronze.  “I didn’t really have a lot to give. My legs were pretty tired from two days ago, and that’s all right. I’m not really a 1500 m skater, and just being able to skate in front of my parents again and hype up the crowd before the race is always fun,” said Dawson.  Their second place finish in Tuesday’s men’s team pursuit joined just two other medals in the event in U.S. history, having won one of those as a team in 2022.  “It definitely was a victory lap for me. I’m just proud of what I accomplished with Emery and Ethan a couple days ago. It was something I’ll remember forever and be proud of forever,” said Dawson. Stolz’s performance continued his winning streak at these Games, this silver joining his two gold medal victories in the 500m and 1000m events. Ning’s victory and Olympic record was one of three beaten on Thursday night, after Netherland’s Joep Wennemars set it in pair 11, followed by bronze medalist Nuis at the same time as Ning.  With four pairs between Ning and Stolz’s race, Stolz sat watching the time, considering what he would have to do to get there. “When I saw Ning’s time, I thought it was really fast, and I thought, well, I could have skated that time at Inzell at the last World Cup, but here that’s a really fast time and I just didn’t quite have it in my legs,” said Stolz.  Team USA’s Jordan Stolz skated to silver in the men’s 1500 meters on Thursday, finishing behind China’s Zhongyan Ning, who set an Olympic record, and ahead of the Netherlands’ Kjeld Nuis. Stolz will compete again in Saturday’s mass start. Credit: Photo courtesy of U.S. Speedskating by Noel Stave “Ning had, I think, the race of his life, and I didn’t have one of my best. I’m still happy with silver, I have two golds, and I’m really happy Ning could pull this off,” Stolz said.   For Lehman, the 1500m marked the last race of his career. After four Olympic appearances, the veteran skater said he hopes he can find something as all-consuming, beloved and challenging to lend his focus to as he enters his retirement. One thing is for sure, he said, and that is that nothing will come close to the passion and heart he has for the people who have supported him in the sport, so maybe he’ll turn his attention there.  “It’s been a fun journey,” Lehman said. “We had one big goal at this Games: to do as well as we could in Team Pursuit, and everything else was kind of secondary to that.” For Lehman and his teammates, the silver medal is a massive accomplishment and a representation of what the trio spent seven years building as a team. “I’m really excited to see what they do next. I think Casey and Ethan are incredible skaters, and seeing what they can do individually without having to pursue everything all at once is going to be great,” said Lehman.  USA’s Emery Lehman competed in the final Olympic race of his 16-year career in the men’s 1500 meters, closing out his fourth Games after helping the United States earn silver in the team pursuit earlier in the week. Credit: Photo courtesy of U.S. Speedskating by Noel Stave Lehman pointed to his teammates’ individual successes this season — Cepuran’s fifth place World Cup finish in the mass start, and Dawson’s record time World Cup gold in the men’s 5000m — while training for the team pursuit as their main focus. “I’m hoping those guys can start upgrading those performances now that I’m not distracting them with the team pursuit,” he joked. Dawson, who set a world record with Lehman and Cepuran in team pursuit during the 2025 World Cup season, said that without the team pursuit, he will forge ahead with a focus on individual events. He said the next four years will be an incredible amount of work as he aims to increase strength and results in disciplines like the 5000m.  Dawson said he’ll keep training with Cepuran by his side, and work to support the younger skaters. Who knows, he said, maybe they can train someone up enough to build another team to compete in the team pursuit. Casey Dawson said his focus now shifts toward the next four years building as an individual skater while helping mentor the next generation of U.S. “young bucks” coming up behind him. Credit: Photo courtesy of U.S. Speedskating by Noel Stave “With Emery retiring and having this last hurrah for the team pursuit team is something that we’re going to be talking about 20 years from now, probably in Emery’s backyard, and it’s going to be something we can be proud of,” said Dawson. “We have accomplished so much in this sport together. We’re brothers, and no matter what we’ll always have each other’s back and now for me, I’m going to continue on and skate for myself.” While Dawson and Lehman concluded their Olympic competition with Thursday’s race, Park City resident Cepuran and Stolz are scheduled to compete again in the men’s mass start on Saturday. Dawson will return to competition at the World Championships in March, but said the coming days in Milan will focus on rest, recovery, sightseeing and supporting his teammates as they prepare for their final event. 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