Eleven medals, including four golds, twenty-nine top-10 finishes and some truly thrilling sporting moments! This winter, 51 students and recent graduates from Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA) took part in the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Here’s a look back at the performances of the UGA champions in Italy.
Twelve sports, six countries represented, a quarter of the French Olympic and Paralympic team, a third of France’s medals, and three flag-bearers!
From 6 to 22 February 2026, 37 students and 10 recent graduates from UGA were competing at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games. A record-breaking sporting adventure at the very top, which continued from 6 to 15 March 2026 with the Paralympic Games and four new champions: three students and one recent graduate.
Just under two years after the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, where UGA students and recent graduates won four medals and achieved six top-10 finishes, and four years after the 2022 Beijing Youth Olympic Games, where they secured nine medals and sixteen top-10 finishes, the UGA ‘delegation’ of athletes has once again distinguished itself in Italy.
Arthur Bauchet crowned champion in the giant slalom and combined
With four Paralympic silver medals from the 2018 PyeongChang Games, three Paralympic gold medals and a bronze medal from the 2022 Beijing Games, Arthur Bauchet, a physics undergraduate, had already won almost everything at the Games except a gold medal in the giant slalom, his favourite discipline.
Arthur Bauchet in the giant slalom event © CPSF / KMSP
With his thumb in a cast following his fall in the super-G, Arthur Bauchet put an end to the bad luck on a Friday the 13th by winning the giant slalom in Cortina. This Paralympic title adds to the one he won in the Alpine combined and a superb silver medal in the downhill (read more).
Having won his eighth consecutive World Cup Crystal Globe just before the start of these Games, King Arthur returns from his Italian campaign with two gold medals and one silver.
Aurélie Richard wins four medals
Aurélie Richard, a first-year undergraduate student in Sport Science (UFR STAPS - Faculty H3S), competed in her first Paralympic Games in Milan-Cortina. It was a debut and a resounding success, with four medals won across five races!
Aurélie Richard on the slopes of Milan-Cortina © CPSF / KMSP
At just 20 years old, Aurélie Richard has won three silver medals at the Paralympics in the downhill, super-G and alpine combined events. Although she narrowly missed out on a podium place in the slalom, finishing fifth, the young French champion added a bronze medal in the giant slalom to her Paralympic medal haul (read more).
Florian Michelon, a bronze guide
A top-level biathlete, Florian Michelon hung up his rifle when he moved up to the senior ranks, before becoming Antony Chalençon’s guide in para Nordic skiing during the 2022–2023 winter season. A winning duo, they already have four silver medals from the World Championships to their name.
Anthony Chalençon and Florian Michelon’s bronze medal © CPSF / KMSP
Florian Michelon, a second-year Master’s student in Civil Engineering specialising in Urban Engineering (UFR PhITEM - Faculty of Science), was competing in his very first Paralympic Games in Milan-Cortina. On 15 March 2026, the day of the final event of these Paralympic Games, he guided Anthony Chalençon to a bronze medal in the 20 km cross-country skiing event.
Three Olympic medals in biathlon and cross-country skiing
A month earlier, on 15 February 2026, on the tracks at the Lago di Tesero Olympic Stadium, Victor Lovera, a second-year engineering student at Grenoble INP - Ensimag, UGA, and Théo Schely, a third-year student in Sport Science, took second place on the podium.
From left to right: Victor Lovera, Mathis Desloges, Hugo Lapalus and Théo Schely © Agence Zoom - Michel Cottin
Together with their teammates Hugo Lapalus and Mathis Desloges, the two UGA cross-country skiers secured a superb silver medal in the men’s 4 x 7.5 km cross-country relay (find out more). In the 50 km classic event, Théo Schely finished just off the podium (4th place and top French finisher), and Victor Lovera in 8th place.
Two days after winning that silver medal in cross-country skiing, Fabien Claude – who graduated in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in Sports Science, specialising in sports coaching – took to the tracks at the Antholz-Anterselva venue as the first leg runner for the French men’s biathlon team.
From left to right: Fabien Claude, Quentin Fillon Maillet, Eric Perrot and Emilien Jacquelin © Agence Zoom - Kevin Voigtn
Having finished as Olympic silver medallist in the 4 x 7.5 km relay in 2022, he won gold this time alongside Eric Perrot, Émilien Jacquelin and Quentin Fillon Maillet (find out more).
Biathlon is a flagship sport in France, and it is also a flagship discipline for UGA. On 18 February 2026, once again on the slopes of Antholz-Anterselva, Camille Bened, a first-year Life Sciences student, was one of the ‘Quatre fantastiques’ at those Winter Games.
From left to right: Camille Bened, Lou Jeanmonnot, Océane Michelon and Julia Simon © Agence Zoom - Grega Valancic/Voigt
Following a race for the history books, Camille Bened, Lou Jeanmonnot, Océane Michelon and Julia Simon were crowned Olympic champions in the women’s 4 x 7.5 km relay (find out more). It was a feat that had not been achieved for 34 years, since the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics.
Finishing sixth in the 15 km individual event, Camille Bened is following in the footsteps of Marie Dorin-Habert, Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet, Anaïs Bescond and Chloé Chevalier, who are all graduates of UGA!
Top performances from UGA athletes
In addition to these eleven Olympic and Paralympic medals, UGA students and recent graduates also excelled at the 2026 Winter Games, securing no fewer than twenty-nine top-10 finishes, including six top-5 finishes.
“The UGA team competing at this year’s Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics is much younger than at previous Winter Games. The medals and numerous top-10 finishes achieved in Italy bode well for the 2030 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in the Alps,” says Philippe Giroud, UGA’s High-Performance Sport Officer. “Congratulations to all our students and recent graduates on their Olympic and Paralympic selection, their performances and the achievement of their dual goals at the highest level!”
Inter’Val: a programme for elite winter sports athletes
To balance their studies and sport at the highest international level, all UGA students attending the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics benefit from the
Inter'Val programme. Set up in 2004 to respond to the significant constraints faced by winter sports specialists, this specific support programme is reserved for athletes competing in major international competitions.
Offered in all fields of study, Inter'Val is based on a partnership unique in France between Université Grenoble Alpes, the National Sports Agency (ANS) and five federations: the French Ski Federation (FFS), the French Mountain and Climbing Federation (FFME), the French Ice Sports Federation (FFSG), the French Ice Hockey Federation (FFHG) and the French Handisport Federation (FFH).
This year, out of the 770 high-level student athletes supported in their dual projects by UGA, 115 are benefiting from the Inter'Val support programme. The success of this benchmark support programme is also reflected in the eleven UGA graduates who are pursuing their sporting careers at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games while having secured their professional future.
