Gold-Medal Colleges for Winter Olympic Sports

In honor of the Games, check out our college lists categorized by some of your favorite Winter Olympic sports. Your future school may be on one of these lists!

February 4 marks the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing! It seems like just yesterday—or 14 years ago—that the Summer Games were held in the same city. It may surprise you that many winter sports were featured during the Summer Games before the first official Winter Olympics debuted in Chamonix, France, in 1924. If you can’t get enough of cold weather sports any time of year, you’re in the right place. Below you’ll find a history of some of your favorite Winter Olympic events, plus lists of colleges that excel in those sports. Let the games begin!

Biathlon

Biathlon debuted at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California. It combines two sports—cross-country skiing and shooting—with athletes skiing on a trail and shooting rounds dividing the distance. Events are treated as races and include Sprint, Individual, Pursuit, Mass Start, and Relay. Missed shots add more distance or time to each athlete’s total, with medals being awarded to five men, five women, and one mixed team. Interested in these two sports? Check out the lists below (and discover more great places for skiing later in the blog!).

Figure skating

Figure skating is the oldest sport of the Winter Olympics, first appearing during the Summer Games in London 1908 and Antwerp 1920. Men’s, women’s, and pairs were the only events until 1976, when ice dancing was added in Innsbruck, Austria. The program further evolved when a mixed-team event debuted at Sochi 2014. Figure skating is a fan favorite and one of the most popular sports of the Winter Games. If you agree, check out this list of colleges where figure skaters can thrive. 

Ice hockey

Ice hockey debuted in Antwerp 1920 but was moved to the Winter program at Chamonix in 1924—the first official year of the Winter Olympic Games as we know it. Two events include the men’s tournament and women’s tournament, with 12 men’s teams and 10 women’s competing in the series. This year’s hockey games will be played at the Wukesong Sports Centre in Beijing, which was built as a basketball arena for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games and can be converted to a hockey rink in less than six hours. If you love to play or watch this exciting sport, consider the colleges and hockey programs on the following lists.

Skiing

There are many opportunities to watch different styles of skiing during the Winter Games. Alpine competition features 11 events for men and women, including Downhill, Super-G, Slalom, Giant Slalom, and Alpine Combined, plus a mixed-team event. Cross-country events include Classic, Skiathlon, Mass Start Free, Team Sprint Classic, and Relays for both men and women. Freestyle has added many events over the years, such as Ski Cross, Halfpipe, and Slopestyle, plus Big Air and Mixed-Team Freestyle Skiing Aerials debuting this year in Beijing. Nordic combined is a pairing of ski-jumping and cross-country skiing that has been a part of the Winter Olympic Games since its debut in 1924, though it’s exclusively for males and includes no events for women. Finally, ski jumping has also been a staple of the Winter Games since 1924 and features three men’s events, one women’s event, and a mixed-team event—which is new for this year! If any of these skiing styles excites you, check out the colleges and towns that love the sport just as much as you with the following rankings.

Snowboarding

Snowboarding is relatively new to the Winter Olympics, having debuted in Nagano, Japan, in 1998. Men and women compete in 11 events, including Parallel Giant Slalom, Snowboard Cross, Halfpipe, Slopestyle, Big Air, and a Mixed-Team Snowboard Cross. Some events are judged by a panel evaluating trick difficulty, run execution, and jump landings and techniques, while others are races in which the first one over the finish line wins. Although Shaun White didn’t go to college, he would’ve had a lot of fun at the schools on the following list. 

We may not have college lists for every Winter Olympics sport—sorry bobsleigh, curling, luge, skeleton, and speed skating fans—but you never know which school may offer these unique activities as teams, clubs, or other student groups. Use our College Search tool and featured college profiles to do more research and discover schools (or sports) you may have never even heard of before. Good luck and go Team USA!

More of a warm weather person? Check out our other article about Gold–Medal Colleges for Summer Olympic Sports.

Like what you’re reading?

Join the CollegeXpress community! Create a free account and we’ll notify you about new articles, scholarship deadlines, and more.

Join Now

Tags:

About CollegeXpress

CollegeXpress

Welcome to CollegeXpress, your one-stop college shop! We’re a free college planning website used by millions of college-bound students, parents, and counselors—anyone who needs help navigating the college search and application process, financial aid opportunities, and more. You’ll find comprehensive College Search and Scholarship Search tools, tons of articles and expert advice, unique college lists and rankings, and lots of other resources to help make your life easier. Teen Vogue even named us one of the 7 Best College Search Websites! But current college students and recent grads also love CollegeXpress for our Graduate Program Search and endless information on student life, internships, and beyond. We really have something for everyone, no matter where you are in your college journey. 😊

 

Join our community of
over 5 million students!

CollegeXpress has everything you need to simplify your college search, get connected to schools, and find your perfect fit.

Join CollegeXpress
Dani York

Dani York

High School Class of 2022

CollegeXpress helped in my journey by comparing multiple colleges for my final decision. While looking at different colleges, I was able to compare the tuition expenses and that landed me with the college that I’m currently enrolled in, Western Kentucky University. Thank you!

Monica

Monica

High School Class of 2023

Being a sophomore in high school, I never really worried about college. I thought it wasn't important to worry about until senior year. Through this program opportunity I came across, I realized how important it is to start looking at colleges early and start planning ahead. CollegeXpress has opened my eyes to what colleges require, what colleges are near me, and what they offer. The daily emails I get from CollegeXpress really help me look at the different options I have and what colleges I fit into. Without this website, I would not be taking the time out of my day to worry about what my future will be nor what opportunities I have. I could not be more grateful for such an amazing and useful website. It's thanks to CollegeXpress that not only me but my family now know how much potential I have in to getting into these colleges/universities that we thought were out of my reach.

Makiyah Murray

Makiyah Murray

High School Class of 2021

The college application process has been a stressful one, but CollegeXpress has eased some of that stress with its readily available college resources. At the beginning of the process, I frequently used the college search feature, and now that I’m almost done applying, I’ve started using the scholarship search. Both of these resources have made it easier to find relevant information.

Christina

Christina

High School Class of 2021

CollegeXpress helped me find Allegheny College with the super-user-friendly search tool for both schools and scholarships. Using CollegeXpress, I was able to search for programs I was interested in studying and find colleges that offered those programs. Also, once you search for the college, CollegeXpress can get you connected!

Bri'Yana Brown-Dunn

Bri'Yana Brown-Dunn

High School Class of 2022

CollegeXpress helped me gain interest in many colleges/universities and many scholarships. I would say the most helpful thing CollegeXpress has done for me is sending me emails that tell me certain types of colleges are interested in me as well as emails about scholarships that I can look at and possibly apply for.

College Matches
X

Colleges You May Be Interested In