ZHANGJIAKOU, CHINA—Petra Hyncicova was the first CU athlete to compete in Beijing for the XIV Winter Olympic Games, taking part in the women's 7.5k/7.5k skiathlon just hours after the Opening Ceremonies took place.
Hyncicova finished 26th in the race after having a starting bib of 49, essentially moving up 23 spots in an impressive showing. Skiathlon is essentially two races back to back, a 15K race the first half, or 7.5K of which is in the classical discipline and the second half of which is the freestyle discipline.
Hyncicova started strong, immediately moving up to 39th place by the first split at the 1.