Formed, Dilling Go 1-2 in SJN GS Race

NETHERLANDS, Colo.Filip Forejtek became the fifth different member of the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team to win the event in 2023, doing so in dominant fashion here Thursday at Eldora Mountain Resort while the Buffs were able to maintain the lead that Nordic teams built last week at CU’s own Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational. .

Forejtek was joined on the podium Jacob Dilling as the two earned podium finishes for the second consecutive day, effectively earning a 1-2 finish for the Buffs. Emma Hammergaard missed the podium on the women’s side by two hundredths of a second and finished fourth to lead the CU women.

The Nordics built a 57-point lead on Utah last week in Steamboat Springs, and the Buffs currently hold a 50-point lead on the Utes with just two contests remaining on Friday. The Utes outscored the Buffs by 21 points in the women’s contest to cut the Buffs’ lead to 36, but the men’s team then put up 14 points on Utah to push the lead back to 50, 522-472. Denver is third with 398 points, 124 ahead of the Buffaloes, with Montana State (371) and Alaska Anchorage (280) rounding out the top five.

Forejtek picked up his fifth career win and also set a new standard for men’s alpine skiing in Colorado with his 28th career top-five finish, breaking the mark set by the great Frank Brown in 1959, some 64 years ago.

Forejtek and Dilling were 1-2 after the first run and Forejtek then equalized Alex Birkner for the fastest second run. That time allowed Forejtek to win the race by half a second over Dilling, and Birkner, who was the first skier in the second round, moved up from 30th to 13th. Louis Fausa also had a solid race finishing 10th with his first top 10 of the young season. Jack Reich He also had his best race, finishing 20th and picking up the first top 20 finish of his CU career.

Hammergaard was sitting in third place after the first run and despite fourth fastest second lap he dropped one place to fourth and missed the podium by two hundredths. Elena Exenberger was tied for 17th in both races and finished 16th and Kaitlyn Harsch was the Buffs’ third team scorer at 19th and moved up four spots for 14th fastest second run.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN

The Buffs showed again that they have several threats to finish in the top 10 among the Alpines, but also to win races. Forejtek and Dilling both won in the last two days and Hammergaard came close to another podium. The depth can also be seen when three men ranked in the top 10 and five in the top 20 and three women made it to the top 20.

NEXT

A few busy days ahead as the CU Invitational wraps up and the DU Invitational in its entirety. The Alpine teams will be in Eldora for one more day of competition on Friday to close out the CU meet, while the Nordic teams will open the DU Invitational at Maloit Park. On Saturday, the alpine teams open the DU Invitational, while the Nordic teams close it out, and Sunday concludes the DU meet on the alpine side.

GROUP NOTES

• The Buffs scored 162 points on the day, 98 in the men’s competition and 64 in the women’s competition. Only Utah scored more points, with 169 on the day.
• The Buffs lead the CU Invitational by 50 points over Utah and extended their lead over third-place Denver to 124 points, outscoring the Pioneers by 40 points in two contests.
• Hammergaard (31 points), Exenberger (17) and Harsch (16) scored the women’s goals, and Forejtek (40), Dilling (37) and Fausa (21) scored for the men.
• Forejtek gives the Buffs five skiers who have won a race this season alongside Hanna Abrahamsson, Magnus Boe, Anna-Maria Dietze and Dilling. It is the most individual skiers to win the race in a season since 2019, when Alvar Alev, Hedda Baangman, Erik Dengerud, Anne-Siri Lervik, Mikaela Tommy and Joey Young all won at least one race.

WOMEN’S ALPINE

• Hammergaard finished fourth and has now finished in the top 10 in all four races this year, his second top five along with a third place GS finish at Montana State. He now has two consecutive top-five finishes after notching one such performance in the first 41 races of his career. He now has 19 top 10 finishes in 35 races completed.
• Exenberger finished 16th and has picked up top-20 finishes in all 12 of his career-ending 16 starts.
• Harsch finished 19th, his second top 20 of the season and 26th of his career, 11th in GS races. He has now started 48 races in his career and decided 37 of them.
• Cleo Brown ranked 27th for the Buffaloes.

MEN’S ALPINE

• Forejtek picked up his fifth varsity win by winning both races on Thursday.
  • He becomes the 18th men’s alpine skier in CU history to win five or more events in his career.
  • It’s his 21st career podium finish, tied for 14th in CU history, tied for ninth among men’s skiers, and is now tied for second among men’s alpine skiers with Niklas Scherrer from 1981-83, trailing only Frank Brown’s 23 from 1957-59.
  • It’s the 28th top-five performance of his career, setting a new CU mark in men’s alpine skiing and breaking a tie with Brown. He is now tied for 11th all-time in CU history and tied for eighth among men’s skiers. Brown’s record was held for 64 years. Brown achieved a total of 53 top fives during the four races, 27 of which came in alpine races.
  • It’s his 34th career top 10 finish, tied for 20th in CU history, tied for 11th among men’s skiers, and he’s now alone for second among men’s alpine skiers behind only Frederik Zimmer (36, 1987-90).
• Dilling finished second Thursday after winning Wednesday’s race. He has now finished all 18 races of his career with 14 top-10 finishes, six top-five finishes and four podium finishes. Three of his four podiums are some this season.
• Fausa finished 10th, moving up eight places to ninth based on his second-fastest run, his best finish of the young season. He now has eight career top 10 finishes.
• Birkner finished 13th, his season best and second career best (12th at 2021 DU Invitational GS). He has now finished 33 of his 38 career races with 15 top 20 performances.
• Reich finished 20th for the best finish of his young CU career and his first top-20 finish. He has steadily improved in each race, finishing 40th in his first race in a CU uniform, then finishing 29th and 27th before breaking into the top 20 on Thursday.
• Chase Seymour ranked 33rd and Sebastian Kohlhofer did not finish the second round.

SPENCER JAMES NELSON MEMORIAL CU INVITATION RESULTS (6 out of 8 races)1. Colorado 522; 2. Utah 472; 3. Denver 398; 4. Montana State 371; 5. Alaska Anchorage 280; 6. Alaska Fairbanks 231; 7. Westminster 131; 8. Nevada 58; 9. Colorado Mountain 51; 10. Wyoming 30.

WOMEN’S giant slalom (39 university students)1. Sarah Rask, DU, 1:44.92; 2. Madison Hoffman, UU, 1:45.85; 3. Evelina Fredricsson, WMC, 1:46.32; 4. Emma Hammergaard, CU, 1:46.34; 5. Claire Timmermann, UU, 1:46.73; 6. Nora Brand, DU, 1:46.84; 7. Ashley Alexander, UAA, 1:47.03; 8. Kristine Bekkestad, MSU, 1:47.04; 9. Ainsley Proffitt, UAA, 1:47.23; 10. Denise Dingsleder, WMC, 1:47.31. Other CU finishes: 16. Elena Exenberger1:48.01; 19. Kaitlyn Harsch1:48.22; 27. Cleo Brown1:50.28.

MEN’S giant slalom (38 university graduates)1. Filip Forejtek, CU, 1:38.90; 2. Jacob Dilling, CU, 1:39.40; 3. Gustav Vollo, UU, 1:39.50; 4. Wilhelm Normanseth, UU, 1:39.68; 5. Riley Seger, MSU, 1:39.75; 6. Gianluca Boehm, MSU, 1:40.13; 7. Simon Fournier, DU, 1:40.14; 8. Mikkel Solbakken, WMC, 1:40.37; 9. Matthew Macaluso, CMC, 1:40.42; 10. Louis Fausa, CU, 1:40,44. Other CU finishes: 13. Alex Birkner1:40.51; 20. Jack Reich1:41.73; 33. Chase Seymour, 1:43.91. Did not make it to the second run: Sebastian Kohlhofer.