Colorado Buffaloes in the Winter Olympics

With the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics in the books, here’s a snapshot of the five current & former Colorado Buffaloes that competed for the United States and how they fared.

Casey Andringa (Freestyle Skiing)

Finished fifth overall in the Men’s Moguls event with a score of 75.50, just 6.69 points outside of medal contention. His fifth place finish was the best for an American man in an Olympic moguls competition since 2010, when Byron Wilson took home the bronze medal in Vancouver. 16 years ago, former Buffs wide receiver Jeremy Bloom finished fourth in the same event at the Salt Lake City games.

Arielle Gold (Snowboarding)

At the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Arielle Gold suffered a dislocated shoulder during a practice run and withdrew from the halfpipe competition. Two days into practice in PyeongChang, Gold dislocated the same shoulder again. Instead of withdrawing however, Gold dealt with the pain and went on to capture the bronze medal with a score of 85.75 in her final run. “To just be able to kind of push through that is proving more so to myself than anything that I’m capable of overcoming whatever’s thrown at me,” Gold told USA Today’s Rachel Axon. 17-year old American sensation Chloe Kim, a friend of Arielle Gold, won the gold medal by posting the only two 90-plus runs (93.75 & 98.25) in the competition.

Brian Hansen (Long track speed skating)

“It’s gonna sound like a big excuse but I ate way too much before today,” Hansen told the Journal Sentinel after finishing 15^th in the Men’s 1,500-meters with a time of 1 minute, 46.44 seconds. “It’s hard with nerves to judge where you are at,” he said. “I’ve eaten too little, too often. Then you bonk.” Joey Mantia was the top American skater, finishing in 8^th with a time of 1:45.86. Hansen also competed in the Men’s Mass Start event but failed to reach the final, and part of a four-man United States team which finished last in the team pursuit.

Joanne Firesteel Reid (Biathlon)

Speaking of long track speed skating, Joanne Firesteel Reid (Biathlon) is the niece of perhaps the most decorated American skater, Eric Heiden, who won five gold medals in the 1980 Lake Placid games. Competing in her first Olympics, Reid got off to a rocky start finishing second to last in the Women’s 7.5 kilometers sprint. Days later in the 15km individual, she improved dramatically, finishing 22^nd out of 87 competitors. Reid also helped the United States team finish 15^th in the mixed (2x6km Women & 2x7.5km Men) relay competition. And the Women’s 4x6km relay team she competed with finished 13^th.

Kendall Wesenberg (Skeleton)

Making her Olympics debut, Wesenberg, who played club soccer at CU according to her NBCOlympcs.com bio, finished 17^th overall in the Women’s skeleton competition with a cumulative total of 3 minutes, 30.92 seconds. “It’s not the showing I wanted to have, not the sliding I know I’m capable of,” she told the Modesto Bee’s Brian Clark. Here’s a look at Wesenberg’s final run.