Featured Picture: Sara Rask. NCAA Pictures by way of College of Denver Athletics.
DENVER – The Denver Pioneers ski workforce is in week 4 of the athletes’ pre-season dryland coaching in preparation for the 2026 winter season. Right here in Colorado, the snow will likely be falling quickly and the athletes are working arduous with cross-training and within the weight room earlier than strapping on skis.
Girls’s alpine graduate pupil Sara Rask was honored on Saturday afternoon in Beaver Creek on the Colorado Snowsports Museum’s annual Corridor of Fame and Awards ceremony as a Collegiate Athlete of the Yr. The Stockholm, Sweden, native was solely the feminine athlete nominated and for good cause—she received all eight faculty races in 2025, swept every of the seven ladies’s slalom occasions and accomplished the nationwide championship double by claiming gold in each slalom and large slalom on the NCAA Championships in Dartmouth this previous March.
Earlier on Saturday, the Nordic workforce continued a brand new custom with a 5K time trial path run up Mount Falcon—positioned west of Denver in Morrison. Freshman newcomer Yannick Zellweger and junior Maja Moland have been the lads’s and girls’s winners.
New Nordic head coach Eliska Albrigtsen has been in Denver for the previous two weeks after driving almost 5 days straight from Fairbanks, Alaska. She recorded a Denver Coaches Radio Present phase not too long ago, and Eliska will debut on the present subsequent Wednesday, Oct. 8 at 6 p.m. MT. You possibly can take heed to it stay on Denver Sports activities 104.3 The Fan HD3 or watch or take heed to the complete interview the following day on DenverPioneers.com.
Newer information:
New Pioneers
Denver snowboarding is welcoming 9 newcomers to its 2026 squad with Caman Beauregard (Steamboat Springs, Colorado), Elisabeth Creighton (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) and Cecilia Pizzinato (Courmayeur, Italy) becoming a member of the alpine squad and transfer-student Eemil Juntunen (Iisalmi, Finland), graduate pupil Sondre Oestervold (Kristiansand, Norway) and freshmen Synne Bollingmo (Raufoss, Norway), Estelle Darbellay (La Fouly, Switzerland), Ruby Serrouya (Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada) and Yannick Zellweger (Fex, Switzerland) making up the brand new Nordic members.
Extra in regards to the Pioneers’ roster under:
Florian Knopf Went All-In at Denver
DU snowboarding alum Florian Knopf had excessive hopes of racing on the World Cup stage and competing on the Olympics for the German Nationwide Staff, however he discovered himself in an id disaster of kinds 5 years in the past.
He rediscovered himself on the College of Denver and his journey helped him get again onto his aggressive trajectory in cross nation snowboarding. He now goals to make Germany’s Olympic squad for 2026 in Cortina. Learn Full Story
Kirkeng Established Himself as One of many Finest DU Skiers Ever
4 years in the past, Andreas Kirkeng wanted a change. The Lier, Norway, native was on his nation’s nationwide junior Nordic workforce and whereas he loved the coaching facet of cross-country snowboarding, the fervour for the racing aspect wasn’t the identical.
With a need to additional his lecturers, Kirkeng adopted his older brother Ole Marius’ trek to the College of Denver to earn a school diploma whereas additionally competing in cross nation with the famend ski workforce. The journey to Denver might need been probably the greatest selections he’s ever made.
Kirkeng graduated with two levels and completed tied for probably the most particular person victories by a males’s skier in class historical past. Learn Full Story
Barbier Turn out to be One in every of First DU Scholar-Athletes to Earn Fulbright Grant
The College of Denver Division of Athletics has two recently-graduated student-athletes in Sidney Barbier (snowboarding) and Rylie Mundell (gymnastics) who’re heading to Europe throughout the 2025-26 educational 12 months as part of the U.S. Division of State’s prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program.
Barbier and Mundell are the primary two DU student-athletes to earn grants from the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, which was established in 1946. The 2 former Pioneers are a part of a College of Denver single-cycle-record eight DU college students who’re touring internationally as a part of this system on this educational 12 months. Learn Full Story
What DU Skiers Do When the Snow Melts
Image this: You’re strolling the loop of Washington Park and immediately somebody whizzes previous you on what seem like skis. What they’re doing is named curler snowboarding, a type of Nordic snowboarding coaching that makes use of cross-country strategies on make-shift curler blades.
The particular person doing it might very effectively be a member of the College of Denver snowboarding workforce—finishing certainly one of their many offseason coaching actions. Learn Extra on DU Newsroom
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