BOZEMAN, Mont. – Senior
Sara Rask and junior
Thomas Hoffman placed on the podium in alpine slalom on Tuesday as the 2025 Montana State Invitational came to a close at Bridger Bowl Ski Area.
Wearing bib 3, Rask picked up her third victory in as many slalom races this year and held onto the lead for nearly the entire race. She posted the fastest first run time at 49.97 seconds before clocking in at 55.25 in the second descent. Her total time of 1:45.22 was eight-hundredths of a second faster than Carmen Nielssen of Alaska Anchorage and nearly a full second ahead of Colorado's Louison Accambray in third place (1:46.23).
The Stockholm, Sweden, native has won each of the three slalom events this year and has placed in the top 10 in four of the five overall races. The victory was the 10th of her career and the eighth in the slalom discipline.
Denver's other two women's scorers recorded career-best finishes, with junior
Mia Hunt in sixth and freshman
Stella Buchheister in 11th. Hunt recorded her fifth career top 10 and best finish since a pair of eighth-place results as a freshman in 2023. Buchheister picked up her third top 15 of her rookie season—all in slalom.
Junior
Josephine Trueblood was 21st while fellow classmate
Nicola Rountree-Williams did not race.
Hoffman earned his second podium of the season and third of his career by coming in second in the men's slalom. The Manly, Australia, native was third after the first run (50.23) but climbed into the silver-medal position with a time of 52.65 in the afternoon. Only CU's Filip Wahlqvist was faster as he came in six-tenths of a second ahead of Hoffman's two-run total (1:42.88); Benjamin Angerer of Westminster placed third.
Hoffman was also runner-up in the slalom alpine qualifier race earlier this season on Jan. 6 at Loveland Ski Area and in slalom at last year's RMISA Championships at Big Sky, Montana.
Freshman
Pietro Motterlini was the Pioneers' second men's scorer in 16th while senior
Eirik Kveno also helped the team earn points in 20th. Senior
Cooper Cornelius placed 27th. Graduate student
Loic Chable did not finish the first run, while juniors
Adrian Minde Hunshammer (run 1) and
Christian Soevik (run 2) did not start.
Denver finished the Montana State Invitational in third place with 606 points. Utah won the meet with 713 points while the Pioneers were just 11 points behind second-place Colorado (617).
UP NEXT: The busy week of racing continues with the conclusion of the Utah and Denver Invitationals this weekend. The final alpine qualifier race is Friday with giant slalom at Utah Olympic Park in Park City before the Utah Invite's GS on Saturday. The UU meet wraps up on Sunday with slalom at Olympic Park.
The Nordic portion of the Denver Invitational concludes at Maloit Park in Minturn, Colorado, with the 7.5K classical interval start on Saturday and the 10K freestyle on Sunday.
DENVER WOMEN SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
1.
Sara Rask, 1:45.22 (49.97/55.25)
6.
Mia Hunt, 1:47.09 (51.78/55.31)
11.
Stella Buchheister, 1:48.22 (52.96/55.26)
21.
Josephine Trueblood, 1:51.19 (56.47/54.72)
DNR:
Nicola Rountree-Williams
DENVER MEN SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
2.
Thomas Hoffman, 1:42.88 (50.23/52.65)
16.
Pietro Motterlini, 1:44.97 (52.88/52.09)
20.
Eirik Kveno, 1:45.44 (52.90/52.54)
27.
Cooper Cornelius, 1:46.71 (54.51/52.20)
DNF:
Loic Chable (run 1)
DNS:
Adrian Minde Hunshammer (run 1),
Christian Soevik (58.64/DNS run 2)
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS (through 8-of-8 events): 1. Utah 713; 2. Colorado 617;
3. Denver 606; 4. Montana State 472; 5. Alaska Anchorage 470; 6. Westminster 220; 7. Nevada 179; 8. Alaska Fairbanks 148; 9. Colorado Mountain College 100
WOMEN'S SLALOM TOP 10 (29 finishers): 1. Sara Rask, DU, 1:45.22; 2. Carmen Nielssen, UAA, 1:45.30; 3. Louison Accambray, CU, 1:46.23; 4. Tea Kielsel, MSU, 1:46.62; 5. Kaila Lafreniere, UU, 1:46.91;
6. Mia Hunt, DU, 1:47.09; 7. Kaja Norbye, UU, 1:47.23; 8. Justine Lamontagne, MSU, 1:47.40; 9. Ella Bromee, UAA, 1:47.59; 10. Elise Hitter, WU, 1:47.99.
MEN'S SLALOM TOP 10 (29 finishers): 1. Filip Wahlqvist, CU, 1:42.28;
2. Thomas Hoffman, DU, 1:42.88; 3. Benjamin Angerer, WU, 1:43.97; 4. Roman Frost, WU, 1:43.99; 5. Gianluca Boehm, MSU, 1:44.15; 6. Johs Herland, UU, 1:44.29; T7. Jeger Halbjoerhus, UN, 1:44.21; T7. Iver Naess, UN, 1:44.21; 9. Etienne Mazellier, CU, 1:44.23; T10. Louis Fausa, CU, 1:44.35; T10. Jacob Dilling, CU, 1:44.35
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