Paula Moltzan skiing for UVM. (Courtesy UVM Athletics.)
UVM athletes Ben Ogden and Paula Moltzan medal at 2026 Winter Olympics
Vermont Business Magazine Nine current or former students from the University of Vermont are set to compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics, which will take place in Northern Italy with competition starting Thursday, February 5 and running through February 22.
See full Vermont-related Olympic list below.
UVM-associated athletes will compete in several sports, including hockey, Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, and biathlon. Hockey action will take place in Olympic facilities in Milano (better known to English speakers as Milan). Alpine and other skiing competition will take place in and around the town of Cortina in the Italian Alps.
The Milano-Cortina games mark the 19th consecutive appearance of UVM athletes in the Winter Olympics since UVM’s first Winter Olympian, Larry Damon, Class of 1955, skied cross-country for the USA in the 1956 games, which also took place in Cortina.
The university attracts student-athletes from across the globe, so this year there will be Catamounts on the national teams of the United States, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, and France.
Ben Ogden competing at the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games. (Courtesy UVM Athletics)
UVM’s 2026 Olympic Team
Seven athletes are making repeat Olympic appearances in Alpine skiing with these games: Americans Paula Moltzan, who studied biology at UVM, Ben Ogden, a mechanical engineering graduate, and Ryan Cochran-Siegle, who studied engineering management; and Canadians Kevin Drury, who studied mathematics at UVM, and Laurence St-Germain, who majored in computer science. For both Drury and St-Germain, this year marks their third consecutive Winter Olympics.
Sini Karjalainen, who earned a degree as a dietetics and nutrition major, and Natálie Mlýnková, who studied exercise science at UVM, will both be making their second consecutive appearances at the Winter Games, playing hockey for their respective native countries–Karjalainen for Finland and Mlýnková for the Czech Republic.
Cochran-Siegle and Karjalainen will each be hoping to earn their second medal: Cochran-Siegle was the Olympic silver medalist in Alpine Super-G at the 2022 games in Beijing; Karjalainen was a member of the bronze-medaling Finnish women’s hockey team in 2022.
Milano-Cortina will be the Olympic debut for two Catamounts. Margie Freed, a 2020 Grossman School of Business graduate, is part of the USA women’s biathlon team. In women’s hockey, current student and exercise science major Julia Mesplède is competing for France.
UVM student and current UVM Women's Hockey team member Julia Mesplède will skate for France at Milano-Cortina. (Courtesy UVM Athletics)
“This is an amazing opportunity for Julia and everyone in our program is so proud of her,” says Jim Plumer, head coach of the UVM Women’s Hockey team. “In a way, it’s a double-edged sword for us as she is playing the best hockey of her career right now and we will miss her when she’s gone. At the same time, it’s such a thrill to see our players play at the Olympics. We will be cheering her on from Burlington and then will be excited for her to rejoin us for the stretch run and the Hockey East playoffs.”
The Games’ women’s hockey competition will pit two Catamounts playing against each other on February 8, as forward Mlýnková and the Czech Republic team face-off against Karjalainen on defense for the Finns.
“On behalf of everyone at UVM, we are so proud of your hard work and achievements, and we are so excited to cheer you on as you chase your Olympic dreams,” said UVM President Marlene Tromp, in a message sent out to all the Olympians. “Together, you represent five different countries around the world and are part of a proud tradition of UVM Catamounts performing on the world's biggest stages.”
UVM’s Proud Olympic Tradition
While all the Olympians bring a wealth of talent and ability to their sports, competing as part of a UVM team imparts its own valuable gifts. Moltzan’s athletic career is a classic example of this–she publicly credits her time skiing for the university and its coaches with putting her on track for her Olympic appearances, after early setbacks saw her cut from the U.S national team.
“I kind of went to [UVM] on a whim, and I’m glad I did,” she recently told an NCAA reporter. “It taught me everything I know now about ski racing, camaraderie and team spirit… I realized that Alpine skiing was more than just an individual sport.” Moltzan was the fifth woman from UVM to win the NCAA slalom title and was twice named an NCAA First Team All-American.
UVM has a particularly strong record of turning out Winter Olympic athletes. Perhaps the most notable examples of this are the members of the Cochran family of Richmond, Vt. This year’s Olympian, Ryan Cochran-Siegle, is the son of UVM alumna Barbara Cochran, who won gold in the slalom at the 1972 Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan. Barbara’s three siblings, Marilyn, Bob, and Lindy, also attended UVM and competed in Winter Olympics – Marilyn and Bob in 1972, and Lindy in 1976 in Innsbruck, Austria. Bob Cochran received both his undergraduate and medical degrees from UVM and his son, Jimmy, who studied mechanical engineering at UVM, competed in slalom at both the 2006 Olympics in Turin, and the 2010 Vancouver games. Gordon “Mickey” Cochran, the father of Barbara, Bob, Marilyn, and Lindy, earned both a B.S. in mechanical engineering and a master’s in education at UVM, and was coach of the UVM ski team in the 1970s.
Besides Barbara Cochran and her son Ryan, and Sini Karjalainen, several other Catamounts have medaled at the Winter Games. They include three gold medalists in hockey: Martin St. Louis and Patrick Sharp at the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia, and Amanda Pelkey at the 2018 PyeongChang games. Speedskater Beth Heiden ’83 won a bronze medal at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics. And Bob Cochran is not the only UVM physician who was also an Olympian: Ty Walker, who received her M.D. from the Larner College of Medicine in 2025, was a member of the U.S. snowboarding team at the 2014 Sochi games.
On UVM's Burlington campus, events are being planned to follow the progress of UVM’s athletes. For more up-to-date information on events and UVM athletes, visit the UVM Athletics 2026 Winter Olympics site.
Olympians with Vermont connections
- Chloe Aurard-Bushee, Hockey, Vermont Academy
- Ryan Cochran-Siegle, Alpine Skiing, Starksboro, VT
- Spc. Sean Doherty, Biathlon, Vermont National Guard
- Mac Forehand, Freestyle Skiing, Stratton Mountain School
- Jessie Diggins, Cross-Country Skiing, Stratton Mountain School
- Kevin Drury, Ski-Cross, South Burlington, VT
- Margie Freed, Biathlon, University of Vermont
- Maxime Germain, Biathlon, Vermont National Guard
- Spc. Deedra Irwin, Biathlon, Vermont National Guard
- Julia Kern, Cross-Country Skiing, Stratton Mountain School
- Kristyna Kaltounkova, Hockey, Vermont Academy
- Sini Karjalainen, Hockey, University of Vermont and Vermont Academy
- Chloe Levins, Biathon, Rutland, VT
- Julia Mesplede, Hockey, University of Vermont
- Natalia Mlynkova, Hockey, University of Vermont
- Paula Moltzan, Alpine Skiing, Waitsfield, VT
- Nina O’Brien, Alpine Skiing, Burke Mountain Academy
- Ben Ogden, Cross-Country Skiing, Landgrove, VT
- Jessica Perlmutter, Snowboarding Killington Mountain School
- Sara Roderick, Skeleton, University of Vermont
- Mikaela Shiffrin, Alpine Skiing, Burke Mountain Academy
- Laurence St-Germain, Alpine Skiing, University for Vermont
- Spencer Wood, Para Alpine Skiing, Pittsfield, VT
- Jack Young, Cross- Country Skiing, Jay, VT
UVM alum Sini Karjalainen holds the Olympic bronze medal she won as part of the 2022 Women's Hockey team from her native Finland. (Courtesy UVM Athletics)
Stay Tuned for Campus Events
On the Burlington campus, events are being planned to follow the progress of UVM’s athletes. UVM Libraries will host a watch party on February 5 at 10:40 a.m. in the Howe Library Atrium, as women’s hockey Team USA faces off against Natálie Mlýnková and the Czechia team. Check the UVM Events Calendar for more updates.
For more up-to-date information on events and UVM athletes, visit the UVM Athletics 2026 Winter Olympics site.
In the Burlington area, portions of the Games will be broadcast by WPTZ (NBC5), with full, live, and on-demand coverage streaming on Peacock. Additional coverage is available via NBCOlympics.com.
About UVM: For People and Planet
Founded in 1791, UVM is the leading public university where discovery, creativity, community, and action coalesce to secure a thriving future for people and planet. Recognized among the nation’s top R1 research institutions, Vermont’s land-grant university attracts $250 million annually for groundbreaking research and enrolls approximately 14,000 students from 50 states and 75 countries. At UVM, students, faculty, and staff work together in pursuit of a healthier, greener future. Learn more at uvm.edu.
2.3.2026. Burlington uvm.edu
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