Luczak, Gray Make Olympic Debut, Reid Competes In Biathlon
February 07, 2022 | Skiing, Olympians
ZHANGJIAKOU, CHINA— A pair of Buffs have checked "Olympic competitor" off their bucket lists as three current or former members of the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team competed Monday in the XIV Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. Magdalena Luczak and Cass Gray made their Olympic debuts in Women's GS, while former Buff, Joanne Reid, opened her second Olympic games with the Biathlon Women's 15k Individual race.Â
In Women's GS, Luczak just missed the top 30 flip, coming in at 32nd after the first run. In her second run, she moved up and finished 26th with a combined time of 2:02.85. That marks her third-best world level GS finish behind a 20th place finish on the World Cup in Courchevel earlier this season and a 19th place finish last year in the World Championships in Cortina D'Amepzzo. Gray unfortunately didn't finis her first run, skiing out at approximately the same postition as several other skiers early in the run, including medal favorite Mikalea Shiffrin.Â
In biathlon action, Reid started in 83rd place and finished in 57th, jumping 26 spots. Reid had her best push in the beginning of the race, moving all the way into the top 30 at one point before missing three shots on her second shooting spot. Each missed shot costs races one minute of penalty time. Reid then moved from 71st back up to 48th and missed two more shots on the final shooting stage, then maintaining her 57th place finish. Â
Gray was a freshman on last year's Buffaloes ski team but is taking this year off to focus on the Olympic Games. During the 2021 season, she won the Individual National Championship and took home first team All-American honors. She was also named the Colorado Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame Collegiate Skier of the Year and won CU's CUSPY for Female Freshman of the Year.Â
Luczak is a freshman at CU this year. She has spent most of this ski season in Europe competing on the World Cup and Europa Cup circuits. Â She finished 20th in the World Cup GS race in Courchevel in December and at the 2021 World Championships last spring, she finished 19th in the GS race. Â
Reid skied for the Buffs from 2010-13 and earned seven All-America honors and four all-RMISA accolades. Â She was an Individual NCAA Champion in 2013 in the freestyle discipline and helped the Buffs to two team NCAA Championships in her four years at CU. After completing her master's degree at CU, she turned her attention to Biathlon and has competed on the Biathlon World Cup since 2015.
Luczak will compete in Wednesday's slalom races. Gray is off until Saturday, Feb. 19, when the Mixed Team Parallel event takes place.  Reid could compete in as many as four other races in Beijing, depending on placements in the early races. The next scheduled biathlon race is the 7.5K sprint on Friday. Â
Next up for the #OlympicBuffs are Petra Hyncicova and Weronika Kaleta. Both will compete in Women's Cross Country Skiing Sprint Free on Tuesday, Feb. 8, 4 p.m. Beijing time, which is Tuesday, Feb. 8 1 a.m. Mountain time. Kaleta will begin in the third start position and be wearing Bib 3 for the qualifier while Hyncicova will begin in 21st position wearing bib 21. Hyncicova has already competed in these games and it will mark the Olympic debut for Kaleta. Â
Players Mentioned
