NCAA Runner-Up
Utah Skiers Place Second in Tight Finish at NCAA Championships Nordic’s Sydney Palmer-Leger and Mikkel Solbakken in the GS claim individual national titles
On day one, Mikkel Solbakken captured the NCAA men’s giant slalom title and Madison Hoffman skied to a share of second place in the women’s competition. With a time of 1:44.78, Solbakken recorded Utah’s seventh men’s giant slalom title and first since Endre Bjertness was atop the podium in 2016. Not to mention it was familiar territory for Solbakken, who was the 2021 men’s GS individual NCAA champion while he skied at Westminster. Sindre Myklebust (1:44.85) was the men’s runner-up in his first NCAA Championships start. “Our whole idea was to come out on offense,” said head alpine coach JJ Johnson. “Mikkel did the same thing he’s always done. It’s unbelievable. Sindre wasn’t in the conversation (for NCAAs) a month ago and he’s been trending upward. His personality, how he’s been as a teammate and how he looks at courses—for him to do that today was incredible.” The next day, Sydney Palmer-Leger put on a dominant performance in the women’s 7.5K freestyle to win her third career individual national title.
Madison Hoffman, who won both 2023 NCAA women’s titles in alpine, was the runner-up in this year’s slalom and giant slalom.
The Utah ski team came up just short in its goal of a fifth straight NCAA Championship as the Utes finished second, wrapping up the four-day meet just two points behind Colorado with 567.5 points. The competition took place March 6-9 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. “It happens this way in sport sometimes,” said director of skiing Fredrik Landstedt. “We did our best and everyone skied
great. We started the week off really well and kept it going on the Nordic freestyle day. I thought the slalom also went very well. The final day in the classic, Colorado was just crushing it. They had probably their best day ever. But we still had an amazing day and came up just a little short. That happens sometimes.” Utah finished the NCAA Championships with a total of 13 All-American awards and a pair of national champions.
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CRIMSON CLUB MAGAZINE APRIL 2024
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