DENVER – Joonas Rasanen is in his fifth season with the Denver Pioneers after being named the Otto Tschudi Alpine Skiing Head Coach in June 2021.
 
Since taking over the alpine program, Rasanen, 36, has helped the squad to top-four finishes in each of the four NCAA Championships. Himself and associate alpine head coach M.R. Hostetter have also helped guide student-athletes to 27 individual victories, three individual NCAA Championships and 24 All-American awards.
 
Denver was led last season by Sara Rask, who won eight individual races and swept the women's alpine national championships by claiming the top step of the podium in both slalom and giant slalom. Additionally, 2026 returners Mia Hunt, Thomas Hoffman and Pietro Motterlini joined Rask in earning All-American awards, with Hunt also making her FIS Alpine World Cup debut earlier in the 2025 season and Hoffman picking up his first college victory in slalom at the 2025 RMISA Championships.
 
Rask is returning for her final campaign in 2026 as a graduate student and leads a large women's alpine group with eight student athletes. Overall, DU's 14-member alpine unit features three newcomers in Caman Beauregard, Elisabeth Creighton and Cecilia Pizzinato.
 
Denver athletics broadcaster Tyler Maun recently chatted with the Kauniainen, Finland, native during the weekly DU Coaches' Radio Show to preview the upcoming ski season.
 
The collegiate campaign gets underway on Jan. 4-9 with the Nordic-only RMISA Invitational in Lake Placid, New York, while alpine starts its season with the Denver and Colorado Invitational meets on Jan. 12-15 at Eldora Mountain Resorts and Loveland Ski Area.
 
How did you end up coaching at Denver?
 
"I skied for New Mexico from 2011-15 and graduated from there. After that I skied professionally for a full years until 2019, did a few World Championships and dabbled with some World Cups and Europa Cup skiing. No Olympics unfortunately, but everything else. I retired in 2019 from professional ski racing and came over to the U.S. M.R. [Hostetter] and I got married in spring 2019. I coached at Eldora for a couple years, and when my predecessor at DU left I was in a spot where I could help out in the spring and then we applied and here we are at DU. It hasn't been a straight road, but I don't think anyone's road is straight. It's been a journey, but I'm super excited to be here."
 
What is the coolest place you've got to compete at?
 
"Obviously growing up in Finland and getting the chance to race World Cups in Levi is special. Getting to race Kitzbuehel and Schladming and all of that is special. There is something about this Holiday Classic up in Steamboat with the whole town over there. For me, I was never the strongest or fittest guy, so the hill is short enough where I could actually ski the whole way down and give it my everything. That was super special, but all of those places I am very fortunate to be able to ski all of that and see all of these cool spots."
 
What has the pre-season training been like for the team given the fairly warm and dry fall in Colorado?
 
"To be honest, it's hasn't been too bad for training. We have a great partnership with Loveland. In terms of training, we've had some good skiing going, but in terms of snow volume up in the mountains, it's actually really sad to see. But we've been scrambling around and making the best out of a bad situation. I think we are prepared going into the season. It hasn't been easy, but it's been OK."
 
What has the previous six weeks been like training on snow?
 
"Typically we would train through and maybe drop the volume down and just focus on going fast and stuff—and we've definitely been doing that—but this year we've been scrambling, Loveland here one day and then we'll go to Winter Park, maybe a little Copper-Vail action. Right now we're just fine-tuning and finding confidence. I think the biggest thing for skiers is to trust the preparation and know where you are and trust yourself, be yourself, ski fast and have fun with it."
 
How has defending national champion Sara Rask and your other veterans looked through fall camp?
 
"I think for Sara, we have been pleasantly surprised and happy how motivated she has been this fall and how she has been pushing the younger athletes and how they have been pushing her in the gym and on the slopes too. I think it's been really fun. She definitely has to bring the spice if she is going to stay ahead of the younger girls. Overall, I think the whole squad has been motivated and having fun. We feel like something special is brewing, and we're really excited to go into race season here."
 
How do you build chemistry before getting on snow?
 
"We typically try to do a team-bonding weekend up in the mountains where everyone gets to know each other and especially blend in with the Nordic team a little more. In terms of getting to know each other, we try and play as many games as we can on dryland. We play soccer and hockey every Thursday, so those are fun, and you kind of see the competitiveness and who brings it there a lot. I don't think a whole lot of them want to lose in a lot of things. So in the gym they push each other, and we can see who has the extra fire in there too. Those are usually what we see what we have going into the season."
 
What can we expect from the freshmen women in Elisabeth Creighton and Cecilia Pizzinato?
 
"The two girls we brought in this year are technically strong and there is a lot of cool pieces that they have. They have these turns that we are like, 'holy moly, this is going to be super cool.' They're obviously young, so there are a few Dodo bird moments here and there, but it's expected. It's something super cool, and they have time to grow. We have a real big senior class this year, so they can grow into their shoes and not worry about contributing straightaway. We know they will, but there's no stress to come out and do something crazy."
 
What is the recruiting process like for the coaching staff?
 
"I think we have it dialed in now. It depends on what pieces of the squad and of the roster we're losing every year. We kind of plug-in and play, in a way. Like last year, we didn't have that many athletes graduating so we didn't have to find too many pieces, but going into next year, we're graduating eight, so we have a big job ahead of us. Typically we try and bring in athletes with Europa Cup, World Cup experience and then match them with some local talent, and the local talent is getting better as we speak. We're not going to have that hard of a time to find a good squad for next year."
 
How much of asset is it to have so many returners this season?
 
"This is our first real group of athletes that we recruited and we've brought through the four-year process. I think we've found the same wave length and the culture is definitely where we want it. Is it there every day? Not always, but for the most part it's strong and we're really happy with where we're at as a program right now. We're feeling good about bringing in new athletes into this environment. We feel good that we can bring athletes in and they can grow in this program."
 
What can we expect from this year's alpine squad?
 
"On the women's side, especially, we have six, seven, eight girls that can compete and can win. I think Mia [Hunt] took a big step in both slalom and GS this summer, and Liv [Moritz] is obviously doing Liv things, so we're not too worried there. Nicola [Rountree-Williams] skied a bunch this summer and the two freshmen girls are going to come in and contribute. On the boys side, I think a lot of them came in motivated in the summer and did a lot of good work. Pietro [Motterlini] took a big step in slalom this summer, and Christian [Soevik] came back with the swagger he was kind of lacking last year. So we're excited to see the boys come and perform at a standard they're expecting and what we're expecting too. I think it's going to be a really good year."
 
What excites you about this year's team?
 
"I think we're mostly excited to see how our athletes will perform. I think we have something special with this group. Just to get going and get the kids racing and for them to enjoy it and have fun. For us to see all of the hard work the athletes have put in in the fall will hopefully pay off. Hopefully in March we can stand on that podium as high as possible."
 

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