Featured Image: Sara Rask skiing for University of Denver. Credit: Bob Eastaugh
The Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA) headed into the final two days of regular season racing, battling for top spots in slalom. February 21st was the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) Invitational, and the series concluded with the 76th Annual RMISA Championships on the 22nd.
At the Alyeska resort in Alaska, the first day of slalom racing was a bit of a challenge with rain and a bumpy, slushy surface leftover from the giant slalom. The athletes had to fight to remain competitive.
Fortunately, thanks to some salting and extra effort from UAA and the Alyeska Ski Club, the second day turned out to be an improvement.
Joonas Rasanen, University of Denver (DU), Alpine Head Coach, stated, “It was a tough week out here, and we definitely battled some conditions, but overall it was a good race series with four events in four days.”
Denver Pioneer, Sara Rask, stole the stage as the only athlete to conquer back-to-back wins in the slaloms. Her teammate, Thomas Hoffman, also secured a victory, his first slalom win of his college career. Filip Wahlqvist was the third athlete triumphant in the slalom portion, achieving an eighth victory as a CU Buffalo.
Day One Slalom—Women
Third out of the start gate, Rask showed dominance right away in the first course, establishing her lead early on.
Ella Bromee of University of Alaska Anchorage was the closest athlete to the Pioneer’s lead, coming through run-one 0.56 behind. Kaja Norbye of the University of Utah was the third fastest, entering the second run +1.01 out.
Although CU Buff, Louison Accambray won the second run, it was still not enough to bump Rask out of her triumphant position. Rask was able to extend her lead even further, earning her 13th victory of her college career.
“My approach was to just try and ski fast and not reflect too much on how it felt. Being aggressive is extra important in conditions like that,” Rask stated.
Bromee was able to hold onto her second place position (+1.39), achieving her fourth podium on the collegiate circuit.
After winning three slaloms last year and having a challenging time finding the top of the podium this season, Kaja Norbye was gunning it to move up and snag a victory.
Although the Ute succeeded in a strong second run, she still fell short of Rask (+1.64). Nevertheless, Norbye remained in an impressive third place position.
Magdalena Luczak, an athlete from the University of Colorado, entered the slalom event riding high on the momentum of two straight giant slalom victories. She ended up +0.38 off the podium, landing in 4th place. Rounding out the top 5 was Mia Hunt from DU.
Day One Slalom—Men
The weather continued to worsen for the men with rain and snow, so the racers needed to buckle in and fight for a leaderboard spot.
Buffalo’s Filip Whalqvist has a winning mindset and continues to come out with an aggressive approach each race to achieve the top spot. In the first run, he was +0.17 off Jan Ronner of UAA.
With tight margins heading into the second run, Whalqvist could not hold back. Although his second run time was only the 12th fastest, the two solid runs together secured him another triumphant slalom day.
Whalqvist stated, “Winning never gets old! Every race feels like a fresh challenge.”
His teammate Justin Bigatel was in 13th after the first run, +1.83 behind the lead. This was going to be a tough fight for Bigatel in the second run to move up to a top 3 position.
However, with perseverance and grit, he ignited down the second run, achieving the fastest run-two of the day. This finish moved him up 11 spots into second place, marking the Buffalo’s first collegiate podium result.
University of Utah racer Johs Bråthen Herland rounded out the podium with two solid runs.
Herland has really enjoyed competing for his team: “Being a freshman at Utah is awesome. We have a great mix of talented skiers and good personalities.”
Iver Cornelia Walday Naess of the University of Nevada and Louis Gustav Fausa of CU went 4 and 5.
Day Two Slalom—Women
The final day of racing was the Regional RMISA Championships, so the heat was on. Utah athlete Kaja Norbye came into the day with the aggression for victory, executing a winning first run.
But the competition was stiff, with Norbye only ahead of Rask by -0.15 heading into the second run. The two could not leave anything on the hill. It was an exhilarating showdown with the two dancing for the top step of the podium. However, it was Rask that came through with the win by a mere 0.03 seconds.
Rask stated after her tight victory, “I had so much fun racing regionals! I focused on enjoying the last races on the college circuit. There is nothing like college racing, and I am so grateful I had the opportunity to come and do this.”
“Two more wins feel great; hopefully we can make it one more next week in Dartmouth [NCAA Championships],” she continued.
Impressively, Norbye’s second-place finish marked her 15th podium result on the college circuit.
Rounding out the podium was Tea Kiesel of Montana State University. This was Kiesel’s first collegiate podium, which marked a very strong end to her first regular season on the circuit.
Louison Accambray of CU achieved 4th place, and Mia Hunt remained consistent with another top-5 result.
Day Two Slalom—Men
After University of Nevada athlete Iver Cornelia Walday Naess missed the podium the day prior by four tenths, he ignited out of the start gate on the first run, ready to make an impression. He was able to punch in a leading time two-tenths ahead of the field.
In run two, Naess ran into a little trouble and fell behind. However, he still managed to finish the day in 5th place, earning his second top-5 result.
Johs Bråthen Herland was in 2nd place after the first run but did not finish the final run.
Both Thomas Hoffman of Denver and Wilhelm Normannseth of Utah were able to pull off two runs that placed them on the top of the podium—Hoffman achieving victory.
This marked Hoffman’s first slalom victory on the college circuit. For Normannseth, this was his first time on the podium this season, but the grad student’s 15th collegiate podium result.
Justin Bigatel concluded the day in third, +0.48 behind Hoffman, achieving his second podium result. His teammate, Louis Gustav Fausa, was just bumped off the podium, earning 4th.
Unfortunately, the other CU Buffalo, Filip Whalqvist, broke his winning streak of seven straight wins in slalom, including all five races in the 2025 regular season. Nonetheless, he will reset for the NCAA Championships in hopes of achieving another NCAA title.
Team Standings
Utah topped the team standings at the RMISA Championships with a total of 683 points. Colorado came in second with 607 points, while Denver secured third place with 564 points out of the nine competing teams.
Although the CU Buffaloes did not defend their RMISA Championship title, they aim to succeed in a consecutive Team NCAA Championship title.
The teams will pick their athletes for NCAA Championships this week, and those selected will compete in Dartmouth March 5th-8th, 2025.
About the Author: Ellie Hartman
