Featured Image: Sara Rask from University of Denver. Credit: University of Denver Athletics
LOVELAND, Colo. – Top skiers from seven regional universities and colleges danced through the gates Tuesday in the 2025 University of Denver Invitational slalom race at Loveland Ski Area.
In bitterly cold temperatures and flat light, DU senior Sara Rask dominated the women’s field, winning with a finish time of 1 minute, 29.43 seconds.
“I try to think as little about everything that can go wrong as possible,” said Rask, who also won Monday’s RMISA slalom qualifier at Loveland. “Obviously, this is one of my favorite hills on the college circuit. I want to win here. We train here every day, so I know the hill in my sleep. I’m in a very good space mentally and I’ve been skiing well. I know that and I try to just go into every race being excited to ski fast and chase hundies.”
After leading the first run by 12 hundredths of a second on Tuesday, Rask turned those hundredths into tenths, edging out second place Ella Bromee of the University of Alaska-Anchorage by 0.28 seconds.
“I’ve been really having fun with it and thank God, been confident lately, so it’s nice to get that first one down, the first race. I’m super happy that I could be so close to Sara. She’s really fast, so that’s fun. Having that in your back going into the second day feels very good,” said Bromee, who also finished second to Rask in Monday’s race. “I’m trying to have fun with it and keep it basic.”
Both Rask and Bromee hail from Sweden. Following her last year of racing university, Rask hopes to re-join the Swedish national team.
“I want to move back hopefully to the World Cup and see what I can do with the lessons I learned here,” Rask said. “What’s good about this is it gives good confidence for the rest of the season, to start off with a win. It’s going to be really nice to have that in the back moving forward.”
For the second day in a row, University of Colorado’s Ashley Campbell rounded out the women’s slalom podium with a time of 1:30.51.
“I think it’s huge for myself, coming off a challenging start with some FIS races earlier this season. It’s not the most challenging hill out there, but it means you have to push extra hard. I think I found that,” Campbell said. “It’s good for the team as well to have the morale up to start the season.”
Wahlqvist and Mazellier go 1-2 in men’s slalom
On the men’s side, University of Colorado morale shot even higher, as CU’s Filip Wahlqvist and Etienne Mazellier finished Tuesday’s slalom 1-2.
Wahlqvist, who also won Monday’s slalom race, crossed the second run finish line gasping for air on Tuesday, but with the winning time of 1 minute, 31.35 seconds.
“It’s been hard since the first run the first day,” said Wahlqvist, who was back home in Norway at sea level for the holidays. “I’m not used to this high altitude. It might be the hardest race on the physique so far because of the elevation. It’s hard to recover after each run.”
On top of the elevation – close to 10,000 feet above sea level – the men faced a challenging second run course set, requiring fast feet and extra agility.
“I have the same mentality on top,” Wahlqvist said. “For me. I always try to go full gas and not make it too complicated. I’ve been skiing a bunch of different surfaces. I’m used to pretty much anything you can set.”
After leading the first run, DU’s Christian Soevik was about 12 gates from the finish of the second run, blazing down the course’s steepest pitch, when he straddled a gate and took a DNF. Mazellier took second, 0.41 seconds off the winning pace, while U.S. Ski Team athlete Hunter Salani rounded out Tuesday’s podium, 0.48 seconds back.
“There was an offset hairpin into another one, where you got a lot of speed out of it, so you had to really manage it,” Mazellier said of the section where Soevik went out.
Home in Canada at lower elevation for several days, Mazellier was also huffing and puffing at the finish line.
“After all the time at sea level, it’s hard to come back to 10,000 feet,” he said. “This course was especially super demanding, really grinding after the top flat, grinding into the pitch and trying to make speed everywhere. The first [run] was a sender, a super quick tempo. You just had to push and be on it.”
Also on the podium for two days in a row, Mazellier was pleased with the start to his tight gate season.
“It’s definitely cool to start like this,” he said. “I was struggling a lot with my slalom last year. I knew I had a good grip today and I just let it go. Something in the mind just let go and I could just have fun.”
The University racing season continues at Copper Mountain today (Wednesday January 8th, 2024) with men’s and women’s giant slalom.
About the Author: Shauna Farnell
