Five UVM Student-Athletes Make Olympic Debut
Donor support for UVM Athletics continues to propel UVM student-athletes to some of the biggest stages in sports. Five current Catamounts—all scholarship recipients—made their Olympic debuts in Beijing in February, representing their countries and facing off against the top competitors in the world.
This year, a program-record 13 current, former, and future Catamounts participated at the 2022 Winter Games. UVM student-athletes competed in freestyle skiing, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, and ice hockey. They represented Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, and the United States.
In UVM Athletics history, four former Catamounts have taken the top podium at the Winter Olympics. Amanda Pelkey ’15 won gold as a member of the U.S. women’s hockey team at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang. In 2014, men’s hockey alumni Martin St. Louis ’97 and Patrick Sharp ’02 struck gold in Sochi with Team Canada. And Vermont skiing legend Barbara Ann Cochran ’78 brought home gold in the women’s slalom at the 1972 Winter Games in Sapporo.
BEN OGDEN ’22
Ogden is a senior Nordic skier from Landgrove, Vermont, majoring in mechanical engineering. Ogden competed in the men’s 15km classic, the men’s sprint freestyle, and the men’s team sprint classic, in which the team placed in the top 10. In March 2020, Ogden brought home gold for UVM in the ten-kilometer freestyle race at the NCAA National Skiing Championships. Ogden says he’s humbled by the support he’s received as the inaugural recipient of the David and Beth Daigle Ski Scholarship. “I hope they take personal pride in the things that I’ve been able to accomplish.”
UVM’s women’s ice hockey team was well represented in Beijing, with four Catamounts selected to compete for their countries. Three of those athletes were named to the 2022 Czech Republic team, which made its first-ever Olympic appearance in women’s hockey at these Winter Games. Natálie Mlynková ’22, Tynka Pátková ’22, and Blanka Škodová ’22 joined their former UVM teammate Sammy Kolowrat ’19 on the ice.
SINI KARJALAINEN ’22
Karjalainen is a senior defenseman from Posio, Finland, majoring in dietetics, nutrition & food science. She represented her native Finland in the Beijing games. As her teammates watched on from Burlington in the early hours of February 16, 2022, Karjalainen became the twelfth student-athlete in UVM Athletics history to win an Olympic medal when Finland shut out Switzerland 4-0 to take the bronze. The Catamounts have now produced back-to-back Olympic medalists, following Pelkey’s gold in 2018.
Watch Sini Karjalainen arrive in Burlington with her bronze medal in hand by clicking the button below.
BLANKA ŠKODOVÁ ’22
Škodová is a senior goalie from Šternberk, Czech Republic, majoring in business administration. Škodová was named as an alternate for the Czech Olympic team in 2022. “UVM gives me the opportunity to get a great education and play hockey at the highest level,” said Škodová. “I am beyond fortunate to go to class in a brand new, state-of-the-art building like [the Grossman School’s] Ifshin Hall, and take the ice as a Catamount under the historic arched ceiling of the Gut.”
KRISTÝNA “TYNKA” PÁTKOVÁ ’23
Pátková is a senior forward from Meziboří, Czech Republic, majoring in film and television studies. Pátková competed for three seasons at the U18 level with the Czech Republic National Team in the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championship, a precursor for selection to the Czech Olympic team.
NATÁLIE MLYNKOVÁ ’24
Mlynková is a sophomore forward from Zlín, Czech Republic, majoring in exercise science. She has several years of international competition experience as a member of the Czech National Team. Mlynková became the first and only UVM women’s hockey player to score a goal in the Winter Olympics when she rippled the mesh in the third period of the Czech Republic’s faceoff against Japan.
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