The Opening Ceremonies for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games (taking place in Milan, Italy) will begin on Friday and the games will extend through Sunday February 22nd. The games will be covered nationally through NBC and streamed online through Peacock.
The Big 12 has an impressive footprint in the 2026 Winter Games. The Utah Utes have the most athletes being represented, and not just for the United States but around the world as well. More than one-third of Team USA’s speed skating roster is made up of former or current Utah Utes and the entire U.S. women’s aerial team consists of Utah students or alumni.
Utah is Well Represented at the Winter Olympics
Alex Hall, a freestyle skier, Utah alum, and 2022 Gold Medalist is back for more in 2026. He will try to defend his gold during his time in Italy. Jaelin Kauff and Christopher Lillas, also Utah alumni and freestyle skiers, will be out on the slopes looking to medal as well. Both Kauff and Lillas also medaled in 2022. All three will be representing Team USA throughout the games.
Ethan Cepuran and Casey Dawson are former Utah Utes who will be representing Team USA in speedskating. They were able to manage Bronze medals in 2022 and will look to climb the podium again in 2026.
Novie McCabe and Joe Davies, both Utah alumni, will be taking on cross-country skiing at the 2026 Olympic games. McCabe will be representing the USA and Davies will be representing Great Britain. The University of Colorado will also be represented in cross-country skiing.
Around the Big 12
Current Colorado Buffalo students Jakob Moch and Hugo Hinckfuss will compete as well as Colorado alum Alvar Alev. Moch will compete for Germany, Hinckfuss will compete for Australia and Alev will compete for Estonia.
Cass Gray, a former NCAA Champion and Colorado alum, will compete for Canada in Alpine skiing. Joanne Reid, another Colorado alum, is competing in her third Olympics in the biathlon. Stacy Gaskill, a former Colorado Buffalo, will be representing the United States in the snowboarding competition.
It shouldn’t be shocking that all of these former Utah and Colorado students are involved in the Winter Olympics. The geographic location of those two schools lends itself to being able to access the mountains and climate necessary to fully integrate and compete in the winter games events. It would be more surprising to see athletes from Iowa State, Oklahoma State, UCF or Kansas be represented all over the 2026 Olympic games. It should be noted that Team USA has an Arizona State alumnus, Chris Scoppetto, as the equipment manager for their hockey team.
Whether you’re locked into Curling, checking out Ski Jumping or Snowboarding, maybe taking a peak at Figure Skating or Bobsled, there’s a chance you’ll be able to catch some former Big 12 athletes on your television. They may or may not be able to give their university a shout out, but behind the scenes we know the work they put in and it can be directly tied to the Big 12 and their powerhouse programs when it comes to winter games events.
