Troy Terry became DU’s first current student-athlete to skate in the Olympics for Team USA in hockey. Photo: Jean Catuffe/Getty
Two current student-athletes and three DU alumni represented their respective countries — as well as the crimson and gold — at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Former Pioneer men’s skier Leif Kristian Nestvold-Haugen led Team Norway to a bronze medal in the debut of the Alpine Skiing Team Event, which features 16 teams of four athletes (two men and two women) arranged in a bracket-style, single-elimination format. A skier from each of the two competing nations raced down the course in a series of head-to-head slalom races. Nestvold-Haugen, making his third appearance on the Olympic stage, won all four of his matchups; he also finished 13th in the slalom and eighth in the giant slalom.
“Winning a medal as a team gives a different feeling than individual titles,” Haugen says. “The joy you feel gets multiplied as you have more people to share that joy with. It reminds me of the feeling I had back in 2009 and 2010, when I was a member of the winning [DU] team at the NCAA Championships.”
Junior finance major Troy Terry, meanwhile, became DU’s first current student-athlete to skate in the Olympics for Team USA in hockey. The standout hockey player, also a 2018 Hobey Baker Award nominee, is from Highlands Ranch, Colo.
Though the U.S. team was eliminated in the quarterfinals with a 3-2 loss to the Czech Republic, Terry says the experience still was a highlight of his young career.
“It definitely helped me as a player, my confidence, and knowing how I can play at this level,” Terry told AP hockey writer Stephen Whyno. “I’m just trying to keep this going, and I feel good as a player. I’m coming out of [Pyeongchang] with confidence, and I’m just trying to bring that back to Denver.”
The other student-athlete competing in the games was sophomore Andrea Komsic, who was named to the 2018 Croatian ski team. Komsic also competed in the Olympics in Sochi, Russia, in 2014.
The marketing major finished 31st in the women’s slalom and 32nd in the giant slalom.
“Not a lot of people get the opportunity to compete with all the best athletes in the world, and I’m beyond grateful that I got this chance,” Komsic said before the 2018 games. “I worked really hard my entire life to get to the highest level of competition, and being named to the national Olympic team is the best reward I could get.”
Joining Nestvold-Haugen, Komsic and Terry in South Korea were two other DU alumni: Team Canada skiers Erik Read and Trevor Philp.
Philp, who made his second appearance in the Olympics for Team Canada, finished 18th in the giant slalom, while Read — who made his Olympic debut in South Korea — finished 29th in the slalom and 11th in the giant slalom.