DENVER – University of Denver skiing's
Florian Knopf and
Andreas Kirkeng were recognized on Wednesday by the College Sports Communicators as members of the Academic All-America Men's At-Large Team for their performance on and off the snow in 2023-24.
The two DU Nordic skiers were among 47 total Division-I men's student-athletes to pick up All-America accolades. Knopf was one of 16 to be named to the First Team while Kirkeng was among 17 athletes to earn Third-Team honors. Both were previously named to the CSC All-District At-Large Team.
Knopf was consistently at the top of the leaderboard in his first season at the collegiate level in 2024, placing in the top five in nine of his 10 races and earning four podium finishes—all of which were runner-up placements. An All-RMISA First Team member, he picked up two All-American First-Team awards at the 2024 NCAA Championships, placing fifth in the 7.5K Nordic freestyle and second in the 20K classical. Knopf, who still has another year of eligibility, began 2024 by placing in the top five in each of the first seven RMISA races and also represented the German National Team at FIS World Cup races in Canmore, Alberta, in February.
Working on his master's degree in quantitative finance at DU, Knopf posted a 4.0 grade-point average in his first year of graduate school and was one of 13 D-I athletes on the list to have a perfect cumulative GPA.
Kirkeng won his third consecutive RMISA West Regional Championship in the Nordic classical discipline and was selected to the All-RMISA First Team and as the RMISA Most Valuable Skier in both men's freestyle and classic. A second-team All-American in the 7.5K freestyle after coming in 10th at the NCAA Championships, Kirkeng picked up six wins, earned eight podiums and placed in the top 10 in each of the first 12 races of the season. He won four consecutive events from Feb. 2-10, sweeping the regular-season races in Colorado from Feb. 2-10.
The Lier, Norway, native posted a cumulative 3.99 GPA and graduated from Denver with a bachelor's degree in business finance in June. He is set to begin graduate school this fall and ski in his fourth season with the Pioneers in winter 2025.
To be eligible for the CSC Academic All-America award, student-athletes must have been named to the All-District Team where they needed to be at least a sophomore academically and athletically and have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade-point average. Nominated student-athletes must have also participated in at least 90 percent of their team's games/events this past season or started 66 percent of those instances.
Each school was limited to six nominees for both the Men's and Women's At-Large Academic All-District Team, which included athletes from the NCAA sports of fencing, golf, gymnastics, hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.
Knopf and Kirkeng were two of three Denver men to be named an Academic All-American on the CSC's At-Large Team along with men's hockey's
Kent Anderson (Second Team).
Nora Brand of the DU ski team was previously named to the Women's Academic All-American At-Large Team on Tuesday.
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