Denver Skiing Set For 2023 NCAA Championships - University of Denver Athletics (2024)

NCAA Photos via Getty Images

Skiing 3/7/2023 10:35:00 PM Ron Knabenbauer

Pioneers prepared for four days of competition in Lake Placid

Watch Live March 8 Giant Slalom
Watch Live March 9 Nordic Freestyle
Watch Live March 10 Slalom
Watch Live March 11 Nordic Classical

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – The University of Denver ski team aims for its 25th national title this week as the Pioneers travel to the Lake Placid area for the 2023 NCAA Championships.

This year's event begins on Wednesday with the alpine giant slalom races at Whiteface Mountain in nearby Wilmington before the Nordic skiers start their competition on Thursday with the women's 5-kilometer and men's 10K freestyle events at Mt. Van Hovenberg as part of the Olympic Sports Complex. Alpine concludes its competition on Friday with slalom and a school will be crowned the national champion on Saturday with the women's and men's 20K Nordic classic mass start.

Denver finished third at the 2022 championships in Utah and is looking for its first national title since 2018.

The Pioneers qualified 11 athletes for this year's national championship, including a full alpine team with six individuals.

Denver is led in women's slalom by junior Nora Brand and freshmen Mia Hunt and Sara Rask. Brand is coming off two slalom victories two weeks ago in Alaska and owns five podiums and nine top 10s on the season. A constant inside the top 20 all year, Hunt had top-10 performances in slalom at the DU Invitational and RMISA Championships.

Rask has had one of the most dominant seasons in recent years in collegiate alpine skiing. The Stockholm, Sweden, native finished in the top 10 in all 11 races, recorded nine podium and six wins, including posting three victories in three days on Feb. 9-11. She enters nationals with wins in each of her last four giant slalom events.

On the men's side, fifth-year senior Simon Fournier is set to compete for the final time for the Pioneers and has split this season in Europe with the Canadian national team. He'll be joined by sophom*ore Cooper Cornelius and freshman Jack Bowers, who both posted a pair of top-10 results this year in GS and slalom, respectively.

Men's Nordic is led by senior Bernhard Flaschberger and sophom*ore Andreas Kirkeng, and the duo will be joined this year by sophom*ore Elijah Weenig, who will be making his national championship debut. Flaschberger won two freestyle races this year, while Kirkeng was victorious in four events—three in classic. Overall, Flaschberger and Kirkeng combined for 11 podium, 16 top-five results and finished in the top 10 in all 21 races they competed in.

Women's Nordic features junior Hanna Ray and freshman Selma Andersen, who will be making her debut at nationals after recording three top 10s during the year. Ray, who had two top-10 results during the season, is at her third national championships and is a returning All-American after earning second-team honors in the 5K classic a year ago.

Overall, Denver is returning four skiers that picked up All-America accolades in 2022 in Fournier, Flaschberger, Kirkeng and Ray.

The venues at Lake Placid will be familiar to six DU skiers, as they competed at Whiteface Mountain and Mt. Van Hovenberg during the 2023 World University Games in January. Brand (Germany), Hunt (United States) and Rask (Sweden) all competed in the alpine portion, while Andersen (Norway), Kirkeng (Norway) and Ray (Finland) represented their respective countries in the cross country events.

Live scoring throughout the week will be available on RMISASkiing.com, while live video of all four days of competition will be available at NCAA.com.

SCHEDULE

Wednesday March 8
Alpine Giant Slalom
7 a.m. MT – Women's Run 1
8:15 a.m. MT – Men's Run 1
10:45 a.m. MT – Women's Run 2
12 p.m. MT – Men's Run 2
Watch Live: Giant Slalom

Thursday, March 9
8 a.m. MT – Men's Nordic 10K Freestyle (Interval Start)
10 a.m. MT – Women's Nordic 5K Freestyle (Interval Start)
Watch Live: Nordic Freestyle

Friday, March 10
Alpine Slalom
7 a.m. MT – Men's Run 1
8 a.m. MT – Women's Run 1
10 a.m. MT – Men's Run 2
11 a.m. MT – Women's Run 2
Watch Live: Slalom

Saturday, March 11
8 a.m. MT – Women's Nordic 20K Classic (Mass Start)
10 a.m. MT – Men's Nordic 20K Classic (Mass Start)
Watch Live: Nordic Classical

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