DENVER – University of Denver Skiing's Bernhard Flaschberger and Andreas Kirkeng are the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association's Most Valuable Skiers for the 2022 season in men's Nordic. Flaschberger picks up MVS honors in the freestyle events while Kirkeng earns the award for the classic races.
 
The junior Flaschberger and freshman Kirkeng combined for five wins and seven podiums during the RMISA regular season, helping Denver's men's Nordic squad earn the regular-season championship for the discipline—the only area that 2022 national champion Utah didn't win.
 
Flaschberger picked up four victories overall, with three of the wins coming in the men's 10-kilometer freestyle during the RMISA main campaign: Jan 15 at the Montana State Invitational on Jan. 15, Feb. 2 at the UAF Nanook Invitational and Feb. 5 at the RMISA Invitational in Fairbanks, Alaska. He also earned his first victory in the classical, winning the 15K event at the MSU Invite on Jan. 16. In the postseason, he posted top-10 results in the four total races at the RMISA and NCAA Championships, including a pair of top-five finishes in the 20K freestyle at each meet.
 
Kirkeng picked up his first collegiate victory by winning the 5K classical at the UAF Nanook Invitational on Feb. 1, roughly two weeks after earning his first podium in third place in the 15K classic at the Montana State Invitational on Jan. 16. He closed the regular season with five top-five finishes in eight total Nordic races before adding three more such results in the postseason. He won the 10K classic on Feb. 25 at the RMISA Championships and finished second in the same distance in the classical on March 10 at the NCAA Championships. He also finished fifth overall in the 20K freestyle at the conference championship on Feb. 26.
 
Both Flaschberger and Kirkeng earned All-RMISA First Team honors this season alongside fellow DU alpine skiers Katie Hensien, Tobias Kogler, Eleri Smart and Galena Wardle. Three other Pioneers picked up All-RMISA awards as honorable mentions as Cooper Cornelius and Simon Fournier earned the accolade in men's alpine and Ole Marius Kirkeng was also recognized in men's Nordic.
 

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