Final Two Pieces Added To 2022 Ski Roster

BOULDER – The Colorado Buffaloes ski team added two skiers to complete its 2022 roster, as coaches Andy LeRoy and Jana Weinberger announced Wednesday the additions of Hanna Abrahamsson to the Nordic roster and Elena Exenberger to the alpine roster.

The two will join the Buffs in January ahead of the spring semester in time for the start of the 2022 season, which begins Jan. 2 on the Nordic side and Jan. 18 on the alpine side.

Abrahamsson joins the Buffs from the Swedish National Team and Ekjso, Sweden,, where she has competed in over 140 FIS-sanctioned races in both cross country skiing and roller skiing. A World Cup participant in roller skiing, she is also fresh off a bronze medal at the U23 World Championships where she was the lead leg for the Swedish team in the 4x5K relay. She has 71 top 10 performances and 28 podium appearances including five wins in her career to date.

"Hanna will be a great addition to our team," Weinberger said. "She is a freshman but will definitely be an immediate contender for podiums."

Exenberger joins the women's alpine team from the Austrian National Team and Mittersill, Austria, where she also has more than 140 starts in FIS races in her competitive career. She has 13 starts on the European Cup and in National Championships in four different countries, with 20 starts that include three top 10 and a top-five finish, taking fourth in the giant slalom at Maria Alm, Austria, in 2020. In her 140 starts, she has 61 finishes in the top 30 and 21 top 10 finishes with six podium appearances including two wins.

"We're excited to have Elena join our program," LeRoy said. "Given her background and results on the Austrian National Team, she's expected to have an immediate impact on our success."

The two bring the 2022 roster to a total of 30 skiers, with Abrahamsson joining five others on the women's Nordic team and Exenberger becoming the seventh women's alpine skier on the roster.

The Buffs have been busy with the transition from dryland training to snow. The alpine teams have been training at Copper Mountain for the past few weeks and will soon transition over to their home mountain of Eldora. The Nordic teams similarly have been transitioning from its dryland routine to getting on snow the past few weeks.

The 2022 season starts just after the new year with Nordic teams competing at the U.S. National Championships beginning Jan. 2. Skiers will take three races from those championships to begin the college season at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, as part of the Utah Invitational. The Buffs will host the 2022 RMISA Championships, which double as the NCAA Western Regional and the Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational. Those races will be held Feb. 23-26 in Steamboat Springs, Colo.

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