Hugo Hinckfuss

Position:
Nordic
Height:
6-6
Class:
Senior
Hometown:
Sydney, Australia
High School:
Scots College
Prev School:
Australian National Team

Two-Time Second-Team All-RMISA (2024, '25)
National Collegiate All-Academic Ski Team (2023)
Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll (2024)
NCAA Championships Qualifier (2023, '24, '25)
Finalist for CU Freshman of the Year (2023 CUSPYs)
Three-Time Letterwinner (2023, '24, '25)

At Colorado: Career—Hinckfuss is expected to miss the 2026 collegiate season competing for Australia in the Winter Olympic Games in Italy, and is then expected to return to CU in 2027 to finish out his college career. In three seasons, he has finished 24 of 25 races with 20 in the top 20, 12 in the top 10, and seven in the top five which includes four podium appearances.

2025 (Junior)—Hinckfuss didn’t compete in as many races as a junior, just six, but he was just as impactful, if not more so, than in previous seasons in Boulder. He raced six times, all in the top 20, with three in the top 10, all in the top five, with three podium appearances. He opened the season at the UAA Invitational, taking home third place in the 10K freestyle and fourth place in the 20K classic race, which were also part of the US National Championships. He then skied overseas, prepping for the 2026 Olympics, before returning home for the RMISA Championships to fully qualify for the NCAA Championships. He did just that, taking 13th in the 7.5 K classic race and then getting his career-best second-place finish in the 20K freestyle race. At the NCAA Championships, he brought home two more top 15 finishes and just missed a second-team All-America honor by one spot, taking 11th in the 20K freestyle race. He was named second-team All-RMISA.

2024 (Sophomore)—Hinckfuss finished his second season as a Buff in style, hitting the podium for the first two times with a pair of third-place finishes, one in each discipline, in early February, taking home the freestyle podium as part of the CU Invitational and the classic podium the following week at the Denver Invitational. He also hit the top 10 three other times, taking 10th in the freestyle sprint race as part of the Westminster Invitational, sixth in the classic sprints RMSIA Qualifier race, both as part of the US National Championships, and then also taking fourth in the 5K freestyle race at the Denver Invitational. He was named second-team All-RMSIA, the CU Athlete of the Week, and part of the Pac-12 Winter Honor Roll.

2023 (Freshman)—Hinckfuss got his college career off to a solid start as he finished eight of the nine races he competed in and finished with six top 20 and four top 10 finishes, which included one top 5 performance. He started strong with a top five at the US National Championships, which doubled as RMISA Qualifiers, finishing fifth in the classic sprints. He continued that with a ninth in the 15K classic race the following week at the Montana State Invitational. He missed a few races including the CU Invitational and struggled at the DU Invitational with the same illness before rebounding in Alaska with two more top 10s, a sixth place in the freestyle sprints and seventh place in the 10K Classic races. He took care of business in the classroom, as well, being named to the National All-Academic Ski Team. He qualified for NCAA Championships and lettered and was a finalist for CU Freshman of the Year at CU’s annual CUSPY awards.

Prior To College—He skied for the Australian National Team and was a 2022 Olympian in Beijing, where he finished 61st in the freestyle sprints and 81th in the 15K classic races. He also skied at the World Junior Championships in 2022 in Lygna, Norway, with two top 30 results, 27th in the 30K freestyle and 30th in the 10K classic, and was a Youth Olympian in 2020 in Lausanne. In 2022 he finished fifth in the Australia New Zealand Cup Standings with 95 points. To date, he has skied or roller skied in 79 FIS-sanctioned events and he has podiumed seven times including four wins, all in roller skiing. He finished second at the Australian Junior Championships in 2020 in the 7.5K freestyle race.

High School—He graduated from The Scots College in 2020. His team at Scots were national champions all four years of his high school career in 2016, ‘17, 18 and ‘19. His Cross Country Relay team were also four-time national champions and he was also the individual national champion in 2017 and ‘18. He was also a member of the debate team.

In The Classroom—He intents to major in Applied Mathematics at Colorado. He earned honors in high school for Academic Excellence and as an Academic High Flyer in 2018, 2019, and 2020.

Personal—Hugo Sebastian Hinckfuss was born March 6, 2003, in Brisbane, Australia. His mother is Magdalena Hinckfuss. He has one sister, Chloe, who used to ski at a National level. After his ski career is over, he’d like to work in sports ideally in data analytics and engineering to help teams and athletes find marginal gains in performance, particularly in endurance sports. He enjoys playing chess, solving random puzzles and watching YouTube. He speaks Polish. He has volunteered for the Salvation Army.

Why Colorado?—”It is undoubtedly the best environment to become the best skier I can while also getting a world-class education.”