Joonas Rasanen is set for his fifth season as the Otto Tschudi Alpine Skiing Head Coach at the University of Denver in winter 2026 after being hired to the position on June 17, 2021. In addition to his role at DU, Rasanen is the President of the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association, the conference the Pioneers compete in.
Rasanen, 37, has helped the Pioneers to top-four finishes in each of the four NCAA Championships, including three in the top three. Since taking over prior to the start the 2022 season, alpine skiers have recorded 27 individual victories, three individual NCAA Championships and 24 All-American awards.
In 2025, Rasanen guided senior Sara Rask to the national title sweep as the women’s alpine senior won both slalom and giant slalom at the NCAA Championships. Rask won eight races throughout the collegiate season, including sweeping the seven slalom events. Additionally, 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 season and Hoffman picking up his first college victory in slalom at the 2025 RMISA Championships.
Denver placed third overall for the third straight year at the 2024 NCAA Championships, with the alpine unit finishing second in its discipline while garnering eight All-American accolades.
The Pioneers led all teams in the alpine portion of the 2023 NCAA Championships, as the Pioneers finished with the most points among all alpine competitors thanks to a pair of podiums by Sara Rask and a runner-up performance from Nora Brand in slalom.
In his first season at DU, Rasanen helped guide four alpine student-athletes to All-American honors, with senior Katie Hensien earning a pair of first-team accolades as the individual national champion in women’s slalom and placing runner-up in giant slalom. As a team, Denver finished third overall at the 2022 NCAA Championships.
Rasanen first came Denver in April 2021 as the Interim Alpine Head Coach before being hired full-time two months later. He joined the program after two years as the Under-16 Head Coach for the Eldora Mountain Ski and Snowboard Club.
Prior to getting into coaching, the Kauniainen, Finland, native skied professionally in Europe for four years on the FIS World Cup and Europa Cup circuits from 2015-2019 and competed at the 2015, 2017 and 2019 World Championships.
Rasanen skied collegiately for four years at the University of New Mexico where he won an individual NCAA National Championship and gold at the World University Games in slalom. He won his national title in 2013, the same season he set a school record for the most men’s slalom victories in a single campaign, also picking up wins at the Colorado, Denver and New Mexico Invitationals.
He graduated from UNM in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications.
Rasanen resides in Broomfield with his wife, Mary Rachel, who was also an NCAA skier at New Mexico and the University of Denver.
