Tomas Birkner de Miguel was at a crossroads.
It was January 2018, and the goal he had set for himself since he was a child seemed to no longer be in reach. Birkner de Miguel, 20 at the time, had missed the cut to compete in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Up to that point, the Argentinian skier had competed internationally since he was a teenager, participating in several junior and professional world championships. Where he grew up in Bariloche, Argentina, the Birkner name is synonymous with skiing. Eight of his relatives had competed in the Winter Games. Though she was not a competitive skier herself, his mom, Florencia de Miguel, was the one who taught Birkner de Miguel to ski.
After graduating from high school in 2015, he began skiing full time and training for the 2018 Olympics. When he did not accomplish that goal, Birkner de Miguel had to reevaluate what was next for him.
"At that point, I was very frustrated, because my work for the last four years was trying to qualify for that race," Birkner de Miguel said. "Then I was like, 'OK, you know what? I need to change my strategy here because that didn't work out. I'll give college a shot.'"
Though he was not familiar with much of the United States, one state Birkner de Miguel was familiar with was Utah. He lived in Logan, Utah, until he was 5 while his mom attended Utah State. It would be a homecoming of sorts when Birkner de Miguel chose to head to Salt Lake City and attend Utah.
While the beauty of the campus and cutting-edge athletics facilities were a nice bonus, Birkner de Miguel chose Utah because of the opportunity to be a part of something bigger than himself. One of 10 freshmen on a team with a new head coach, he was able to be a part of a new culture that bore success and a lasting impact.
"When I think about being on that team, individually we were all really good," Birkner de Miguel said. "But I think what we had that was a big differentiator from other teams is we were so close as a group, and we would always have each other's back. So when it came down to races, people just stepped up for their teammates and had that extra little boost of energy. I think that that made us better than other teams those seasons, and it makes me really proud to have been a part of that team."
The 2022 Utah skiing team celebrates after winning the National Collegiate Skiing Championships. (Photo courtesy of Utah)
During his time at Utah, the Utes won four National Collegiate Skiing Championships, the only year without a title coming in 2020, when no championship was held.
Beyond the slopes, Birkner de Miguel remembers the little things that played a big part in succeeding outside of his sport. He remembers spending several weekends studying with his teammates, helping each other through the rigors of finance exams.
When the academics side of his schedule started to feel heavy on his plate, his coaches moved around practice times to ensure he had an ample amount of time to study. These moments that may seem small on the surface reassured him that he had made the right choice to make the trip overseas.
"I don't really think about it as a challenging time, and I think a lot of it is because of the group of people around me," Birkner de Miguel said. "They were not only my teammates and coaches, they were family."
During his senior season in 2022, Birkner de Miguel once again pushed toward his lifelong goal of making it to the Winter Olympics, and this time he succeeded. Representing Argentina, Birkner de Miguel traveled to Beijing and competed in the slalom and giant slalom events at the Winter Games.
Tomas Birkner de Miguel competes for the Argentinian national team in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. (Photo courtesy of Tomas Birkner de Miguel)
"Since I was a little kid, I would just watch videos (of the Olympics) on YouTube, thinking, 'Oh, I'm never gonna make it there, but it would be so cool,'" Birkner de Miguel said. "And so finally being there, stepping up in the gate and seeing the Olympic rings on the flags, that's when it finally hit me like, 'Wow, I'm here. This is really cool.'"
Later that year, Birkner de Miguel earned his bachelor's degree in business administration and decided to return to Utah for one more year as a graduate student. After earning a master's degree in finance, he skied professionally for a year on the International Ski and Snowboard Federation World Cup tour. Today, he works as a tech investment banking analyst in San Francisco and continues to ski regularly.
"I don't want to jinx it, but hopefully I can make it (back to the Olympics)," Birkner de Miguel said. "I don't think I'm going to stop skiing anytime soon."
Looking back on what he has been able to accomplish to this point in his career, Birkner de Miguel's only regret is not making the decision to be a student-athlete sooner. "I think I did a great job being more mature toward the sport, and I think college really helped me achieve that goal that I couldn't achieve on my own before," Birkner de Miguel said.
"It's funny looking back when I was a little kid, my two big goals were to compete in the Olympics and compete in the World Cup. … Skiing in college was never really on the radar. And looking back at my career now, the best five years I've had, and I wish I could relive, are my five years in college. I didn't know they were going to be that important, and they were really, really a good time."
