ANCHORAGE, Alaska – University of Denver skiing senior
Andreas Kirkeng began the 2025 campaign on Thursday with an individual win in the men's 10-kilometer Nordic freestyle at the Alaska Anchorage Invitational at Kincaid Park.
This year's UAA Invite is being held in conjunction with the U.S. Cross Country National Championships, with the RMISA results being pulled from the overall finish to serve as the first meet of the season. Kirkeng placed second overall among all athletes in the interval start with a time of 21:24.2 and placed less than a second behind U.S. national champion John Steel Hagenbuch of Dartmouth (21:23.4).
Professional, amateur and other collegiate athletes from eastern and central schools are also competing in the races this week in Alaska.
Kirkeng's victory was his 13th of his career and fourth in the freestyle discipline. He led four Pioneers in the top 10 in the UAA men's race, as sophomore
Krystof Zatloukal was seventh among RMISA athletes and senior
Elijah Weenig was the team's third scorer in eighth. Graduate student
Florian Knopf came in 10th.
Junior
Micah Steinberg placed 22nd, and freshmen
Joe Graziadei and
Landon Wyatt made their collegiate debuts and finished 28th and 29th, respectively, among RMISA athletes.
The Pioneer women also had their three scorers in the top 10 in their 10K freestyle race. Sophomore
Maja Moland earned her first career top five and second top 10 by leading DU in fifth place. Two Denver newcomers also posted strong results in their Pioneer debut as freshman
Eve-Ondine Duchaufour was eighth and graduate-transfer
Lea Wenaas was ninth.
Freshman
Anna Stewart was 14th in her collegiate debut with the Pios. Junior
Selma Andersen finished 22nd and senior
Sidney Barbier was 26th.
DU won the men's team race with 88 points and had the second-highest score in the women's event with 74 points. The Pioneers are in second place overall at the meet with 162 total points and are 10 behind leader Utah (172) and 11 ahead of third-place Colorado (151).
Kirkeng reached the podium for the 21st time in his career and was joined on the RMISA stand by Utah's Walker Hall in second and CU's Hugo Hinckfuss in third. Montana State's Kate Oldham won the women's 10K; Alaska Fairbanks' Kendall Kramer was second and Utah's Erica Laven was third.
UP NEXT: The Alaska Anchorage Invitational wraps up on Sunday with the men's and women's 20K classic at Kincaid Park. There is also a U.S. Cross Country National Championship race on Saturday in freestyle sprints. The alpine season begins on Monday with a RMISA qualifier race at Loveland Ski Area before the Denver Invitational begins in full on Tuesday.
DENVER MEN INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
1.
Andreas Kirkeng, 21:24.2
7.
Krystof Zatloukal, 22:20.1
8.
Elijah Weenig, 22:22.0
10.
Florian Knopf, 22:25.1
22.
Micah Steinberg, 23:12.1
28.
Joe Graziadei, 23:36.4
30.
Landon Wyatt, 23:45.7
DENVER WOMEN INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
5.
Maja Moland, 25:12.4
8.
Eve-Ondine Duchaufour, 26:04.7
9.
Lea Wenaas, 26:10.5
14.
Anna Stewart, 26:27.7
22.
Selma Andersen, 27:17.0
26.
Sidney Barbier, 28:49.6
TEAM STANDINGS (through 2-of-8 events): 1. Utah 172;
2. Denver 162; 3. Colorado 151; 4. Alaska Fairbanks 123; Alaska Anchorage 118; Montana State 116
MEN'S 10K FREESTYLE TOP 10 (38 RMISA finishers): 1. Andreas Kirkeng, DU, 21:24.2; 2. Walker Hall, UU, 21:38.0; 3. Hugo Hinckfuss, CU, 21:39.4; 4. Brian Bushey, 21:59.3; 5. Will Koch, 22:09.3; 6. Matt Seline, UAA, 22:10.3; 7
. Krystof Zatloukal, DU, 22:20.1; 8. Elijah Weenig, DU, 22:22.0; 9. Luke Riley, CU, 22:23.8;
10. Florian Knopf, DU, 22:25.1.
WOMEN'S 10K FREESTYLE TOP 10 (33 RMISA finishers): 1. Kate Oldham, MSU, 24:29.8; 2. Kendall Kramer, UAF, 24:41.0; 3. Erica Laven, UU, 24:58.3; 4. Tilde Baangman, CU, 25:02.9;
5. Maja Moland, DU, 25:12.4; 6. Selma Nevin, UU, 25:47.8;7. Nina Schamberger, UU, 25:57.7;
8. Eve-Ondine Duchaufour, DU, 26:04.7; 9. Lea Wenaas, DU, 26:10.5; 10. Karolina Kaleta, CU, 26:10.9
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