PARK CITY, Utah – Senior
Sara Rask of the Denver Pioneers ski team picked up her fourth victory of the season on Monday by winning the women's alpine slalom on the final day of the Utah Invitational at Utah Olympic Park.
Rask held onto her lead after the first run and finished the tricky course in a total time of 1:20.82, beating out second-place Kaja Norbye of Utah by two-tenths of a second (1:21.02). Alaska Anchorage's Ella Bromee placed third (1:22.29).
The Stockholm, Sweden, native has won each of the four women's slaloms this year, and Rask has placed on the podium in six-of-eight events, including in four straight to end a busy week that featured five alpine races in eight days. She now owns 11 career victories.
The Spencer F. Eccles Olympic Mountain Center course was especially tricky on Monday as 13 women and 25 men did not finish either the first or second runs. In additions, there were 12 total skiers that were disqualified in the afternoon descent.
One of those DQ casualties was DU junior
Mia Hunt, who was the fourth-fastest woman after run 1 and was briefly in a podium spot in third place before the ruling came down following the conclusion of her second run. Junior
Thomas Hoffman was fourth after the men's run in the morning but was also disqualified on his second run.
Rask was the only Denver woman to earn points, as freshman
Josephine Trueblood did not finish run 1 and freshman
Stella Buchheister DNF'd in the afternoon after being in ninth following her first descent. Junior
Nicola Rountree-Williams did not race.
Junior
Christian Soevik in 11th and senior
Eirik Kveno in 12th were the only Pioneer men to score, as graduate student
Loic Chable, senior
Cooper Cornelius and freshman
Pietro Motterlini each did not finish their second runs after
Adrian Minde Hunshammer did the same in run 1.
Like Rask on the women's side, Colorado's Filip Wahlqvist has swept each of the four men's slalom events in 2025. He was joined on the men's stage with Utah's Johs Herland in second and Harry Hoffman in third.
Utah won its own meet with a score of a total team score of 757 points. Denver only recorded 79 points on the fourth and final day of competition but still finished third overall with 534.5 points. The Buffaloes were in a similar situation as the Pioneers as they only compiled 84 points on Monday, but CU held onto the second position by 34.5 points over DU with 569 overall.
Rounding out the top five in the team standings was Alaska Anchorage in fourth (452.5) and Montana State in fifth (410).
UP NEXT: The RMISA circuit now heads to Alaska for three meets next week, beginning with the Nordic-only Alaska Fairbanks Invitational on Feb. 16-17. Alpine will wrap up the Alaska Anchorage Invitational with races on Feb. 19-21, which will occur at the same time as the RMISA Championships also get underway in the Anchorage area on Feb. 20-22.
DENVER WOMEN SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
1.
Sara Rask, 1:20.82 (38.26/42.56)
DQ:
Mia Hunt (39.79/DQ Run 2)
DNF:
Stella Buchheister (40.75/DNF run 2),
Josephine Trueblood (DNF Run 1)
DNR:
Nicola Rountree-Williams
DENVER MEN SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
11.
Christian Soevik, 1:23.74 (42.77/40.97)
12.
Eirik Kveno, 1:24.29 (42.96/41.33)
DQ:
Thomas Hoffman (41.14/DQ run 2)
DNF:
Pietro Motterlini (41.71/DNF run 2),
Loic Chable (41.75/DNF run 2),
Cooper Cornelius (44.48/DNF run 2),
Adrian Minde Hunshammer (DNF run 1)
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS (after 8-of-8 events): 1. Utah 757; 2. Colorado 569; 3. Denver 534.5; 4. Alaska Anchorage 452.5; 5. Montana State 410; 6. Alaska Fairbanks 217.5; 7. Nevada 189.5; 8. Westminster 162; 9. Colorado Mountain College 86
WOMEN'S SLALOM TOP 10 (17 finishers): 1. Sara Rask, DU, 1:20.82; 2. Kaja Norbye, UU, 1:21.02; 3. Ella Bromee, UAA, 1:22.29; 4. Ainsley Proffit, UAA, 1:22.51; 5. Claire Timmermann, UU, 1:22.85; 6. Justine Lamontagne, MSU, 1:23.29; 7. Evelina Fredricsson, UU, 1:23.59; 8. Katie Fleckenstein, CU, 1:24.06; 9. Melanie Dahlberg, UU, 1:24.08; 10. Ashleigh Alexander, UAA, 1:24.15.
MEN'S SLALOM TOP 10 (19 finishers): 1. Filip Wahlqvist, CU, 1:21.30; 2. Johs Herland, UU, 1:22.57; 3. Harry Hoffman, 1:23.06; 4. Jan Ronner, UAA, 1:23.22; 5. Jeger Halbjoerhus, UN, 1:23.32; 6. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 1:23.48; 7. Roman Frost, WU, 1:23.54; 8. Iver Naess, UN, 1:23.55; 9. Gianluca Boehm, 1:23.59. 10. Louis Fausa, CU, 1:23.60.
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