Hyncicova First To Compete In Beijing With Solid Performance In Skiathlon

ZHANGJIAKOU, CHINA—Petra Hyncicova was the first CU athlete to compete in Beijing for the XIV Winter Olympic Games, taking part in the women's 7.5k/7.5k skiathlon just hours after the Opening Ceremonies took place.

Hyncicova finished 26th in the race after having a starting bib of 49, essentially moving up 23 spots in an impressive showing. Skiathlon is essentially two races back to back, a 15K race the first half, or 7.5K of which is in the classical discipline and the second half of which is the freestyle discipline.

Hyncicova started strong, immediately moving up to 39th place by the first split at the 1.3K mark. She was especially impressive the between the 2.5K and 3.8K of each loop, twice having the 18th fastest mark in that sector. She had moved has high as 22nd place at one point in the Classical portion of the race and at the split between classical and freestyle, she was in 27th. She essentially held that position the second half of the race.

Hyncicova's 26th place finish is 21 spots better than she finished in 2018, taking 47th in the Skiathlon in PeyongChange. Those are the only two world-level finishes in Skiathlon for Hyncicova. She took 22nd in the U23 World Championships in 2017, and 25th in the World Junior Championships in 2014.

Hyncicova skied for Colorado from 2015-18, sweeping the two individual NCAA Championship races in 2017 and picking up seven All-America honors out of a possible eight such honors.

Hyncicova is next expected to participate in the classic sprint races on Tuesday, Feb. 8. Those races will take place 4-8 p.m. locally in China and in the early AM hours of Feb. 8, 1-4 a.m. MT.

The next CU skier participating in Bejing is Alvar Alev, who will participate in the men's 15k/15k skiathlon Sunday. His race begins at 3 p.m. in China, or midnight tonight mountain time.

Hyncicova First To Compete In Beijing With Solid Performance In Skiathlon

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