Three More #OlympicBuffs Compete Wednesday

ZHANGJIAKOU, CHINA— On Wednesday morning in Beijing former Buff, Taylor Gold, and current Buff, Stacy Gaskill, kicked off their Olympic Games in Men's Snowboard Halfpipe and Women's Snowboard Cross, respectively. CU Freshman Magdalena Luczak also took part in her second event at Beijing 2022 in Women's Slalom here at the XIV Winter Games.

Gold has successfully qualified for the Olympic Men's Halfpipe Finals, after finishing only 2 spots short in the 2014 qualifiers. His first score of 81.25 was the fourth best amongst the field for run 1. On his second run he scored an 83.50, which was the sixth best score in the field. Gold will begin the Finals in 7th place, with a total qualifying score of 83.50.

Gaskill impressively advanced all the way to the semifinal round in the Women's Snowboard Cross. Her seeding run earned her a top 4 spot in the finals bracket with a time of 1:23.14. In the 1/8 Final she placed first in her heat. Then in the Quarterfinal she placed second, advancing her to the Semifinals. She finished the Semifinal race fourth in her heat, meaning she would not go on to the Finals. She then finished second in the Small Final. As the only non-medal winner in her semifinal, overall it was a very impressive Olympic debut for Stacy Gaskill.

Luczak unfortunately did not finish her first run of the Woman's Slalom.

Gold is making his second Olympic appearance for Team USA, the first coming in 2014. His sister, Arielle Gold, is also a two-time Olympian, former CU student, and won the bronze medal in 2018 for the Snowboard Halfpipe, the same discipline Taylor competes in. Gold finished 14th in Snowboard Half Pipe in 2014 at the Olympics and he has been competing internationally since 2011.

Gaskill is a current CU Student and has been competing in Snowboard Cross since she was 8 years old. She finished 11th in last season's Snowboard Cross World Cup and 6th in the Snowboard Cross World Championships last February. She is also a member of the U.S. National Ultimate Frisbee team.

A native of Lodz, Poland, Luczak is a freshman at CU in the Leeds School of Business. She has spent most of this ski season in Europe competing on the World Cup and Europa Cup circuits. 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.

Gold advances to the Halfpipe Finals on Friday and Gaskill is slated to compete in the Mixed Team Cross Saturday.

The next #OlympicBuffs to compete in Beijing will be Petra Hyncicova Thursday in the Women's 10K Classic race. Action will begin at 3 p.m. Beijing time, which is midnight Wednesday night/Thursday morning Mountain Time.

Players Mentioned

Magdalena Luczak

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