Buffs at the Winter Olympics: Live Updates

Quinn Kreck
1 day ago
2 min read

Jakob Moch 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics Colorado Buffaloes — *Colorado Buffaloes skier Jakob Moch is representing Germany in the skiathlon at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. (Photo via Getty Images/CUBuffs.com*)

The Winter Olympics have officially kicked off in Milano Cortina, Italy, and the University of Colorado is well-represented. Eight current or former Buffs qualified for their respective countries to compete.

Seven of the eight Buffs are competing in various skiing events, while the final Buff is competing in snowboarding. Stacy Gaskill (snowboarding), Svea Irving (freestyle skiing), Joanne Reid (biathlon) and Ryder Sarchett (alpine skiing) represent the USA.

Alvar Alev (cross-country skiing) represents Estonia, Cass Gray (alpine skiing) for Canada, Hugo Hinckfuss (cross-country skiing) for Australia, and Jakob Moch (cross-country skiing) for Germany.

Some events are streamed live on NBC, with complete coverage on Peacock.

Sunday, Feb. 8:

Men’s Cross-Country 10K + 10K Skiathlon: (Alev, Hinckfuss, Moch)

In the cross-country 10K + 10K skiathlon, skiers start in a line next to each other, then they ski 10K in classic technique. For the classic technique, skiers glide on an etched-out track for the first 10K. They then switch skis, poles and technique for the final 10K. The free technique begins in the final 10K, where skiers ditch the track and “skate” to the finish line.

All Buff athletes finished the cross-country 10K + 10K, with Moch leading the three. The current freshman finished 33rd overall out of 74 starters with a time of 49:08.9. Alev was not far behind, finishing 38th overall and 19 seconds behind with a final time of 49.27.7. For Australia, Hinckfuss finished 56th with a final time of 53.21.6.

Norwegian skier Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo took home the gold with a final time of 46:11.0.

Women’s Downhill Final: (Gray)

In downhill skiing, one skier starts at the top of a course and skis down through the largest gates in alpine skiing, which leads to the fastest times. Each skier gets three training days (this year's day one was cancelled), and then only gets one attempt that counts on the longest course in alpine skiing.

Former NCAA giant slalom national champion Gray finished 26th out of 36 starters with a final time of 1:41.99. She was the only Canadian skier to finish the final, with her teammate, Valerie Grenier, disqualified for violating a timing rule because of a pole strap issue.

Team USA’s Breezy Johnson won gold with a final time of 1:36.1, narrowly edging out Germany’s Emma Aicher by .04 seconds.