The University of Colorado has continued its dominance of the NCAA Skiing this year, adding to their individual titles, which now stands at 94. The next closest school: the University of Denver at 88 titles. Although the Buffs success comes from many athletes, a large portion of it can be attributed junior skier Petra Hyncicova, who added five this season.
“I have to admit that this one was one of my best seasons ever,” said Hyncicova in an interview with CUBuffs.com. “After last year, when my season did not go as well as I wanted, I decided to move skiing aside and focus on other more important things and mainly enjoy the life here in Boulder and United States. So coming to this season I did not have high expectations, but that changed after the first races.”
Following this season, Hyncicova has become the 15th woman to sweep the Nordic races at the NCAA Championship. She won five of the eight races she competed in during the 2017 collegiate circuit.
Although the Czech Republic native achieved a large sum of success, it did not come without adversity. Hyncicova suffered a heel injury at Solder Hollow Resort in Midway, Utah, which caused he to miss two meets in Alaska in early February.
“I want to thank to Chris [DeCarlo], our athletic trainer, and all the people from CU Sports Medicine who helped me get back,” said Hyncicova. “Without them I would have been watching NCAA’s just from my couch.”
The star skier will return to CU for two more years where she will complete her BA/MA degree in Integrative Physiology.
“Every athletes goal is to race at the Olympic Games, but the next Winter Olympic Games are already next year, so that is the closest opportunity to reach my goal, but it is still far away,” said Hyncicova. “So for now my main goal is to finish my degrees and then I will see what the future will bring me.”
Feature Image: Courtesy of CUBuffs.com
