DENVER – University of Denver alpine skier
Sara Rask has been named the 2025 Collegiate Athlete of the Year by the Colorado Snowsports Museum and Hall of Fame.
Rask swept the women's slalom and giant slalom events at the 2025 NCAA Championships in Dartmouth, New Hampshire, in March and also swept the slalom races during the collegiate season, winning all seven such events. Overall, she totaled eight individual victories, placed on the podium 10 times and had 12 top-10 finishes in 14 races last season.
The Stockholm, Sweden, native became the 19th DU skier to sweep collegiate nationals (sixth woman) and first since
Amelia Smart also did it in women's alpine in 2018. It marked the third straight year that a college skier swept the women's alpine races at the NCAA Championships, as Rask joins Colorado's Magdelena Luczak in 2024 and Utah's Madison Hoffman in 2023. Her slalom victory at the NCAA was the first by a Pioneer since
Katie Hensien in 2022 while
Storm Klomhaus was the last Denver athlete to win giant slalom in 2020.
Rask entered the NCAA Championships as the top qualifier from the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association and was named RMISA's 2025 Most Valuable Skier in women's slalom, marking her fourth career conference MVP award. She picked up her first career NCAA West Regional title in slalom at the RMISA Championships before claiming her fifth and sixth career All-American awards at nationals.
While also serving as the women's alpine team captain, Rask was named to the National Collegiate All-Academic Ski Team for the third consecutive season and was recognized as both a Collegiate Sports Communicators' Academic All-America First Team and Academic All-District member in 2024-25.
In 41 career collegiate races, Rask has placed in the top 10 in 38 of them while earning 31 top-five finishes and 27 podiums. Her 15 career wins presently rank fifth all-time in Denver skiing history and are the third-most by a women's alpine Pioneer.
Rask is the women's recipient of the Colorado Snowsports Collegiate Athlete of the Year, while
Filip Wahlqvist of the University of Colorado is the 2025 men's winner. Rask will be recognized for her 2025 campaign on Saturday, Sept. 27 at the annual Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame Celebration at the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek, Colorado.
This year's Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame inductees are
Alice Mckennis Duran, Wendy Fisher, Jon Kreamelmeyer, Bob Meserve and
Trace Worthington. Tickets for the event start at $75 per person, with all proceeds going to support the Colorado Snowsports Museum—a non-profit organization and the State of Colorado's official snow sports museum. Tickets are on sale now at:
https://snowsportsmuseum.org/event/2025-colorado-snowsports-hall-of-fame-celebration/.
About the Colorado Snowsports Museum and Hall of Fame: Founded in 1975 and located in Vail, Colorado, our mission is to celebrate Colorado snow sports by telling stories that educate and inspire others to seek adventure. The priceless artifacts we collect and display tell the story of the birth, rise and explosion of skiing and snowboarding in Colorado. The Museum features displays including Climb to Glory about the 10th Mountain Division, Vail's DNA, The Colorado Snowboard Archive, and The Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame, among others. Learn more and consider supporting the Museum by becoming a member:
https://www.snowsportsmuseum.org.
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