Luczak Picks Up Top 20 World Cup Finish

BOULDER - Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team freshman Magdalena Luzcak used the seventh-fastest second run in the field to finish 20th and earn her first World Cup points Tuesday here Courchevel, France.

Several other Buffs have also posted solid results over the past few weeks for this third update of pre-college racing resutls for current and former members of the CU ski team.

For Luczak, it marked her first World Cup finish in four tries and her 20th place finish earned 11 World Cup points. She was 46th out of the gate for the first run and had the 28th-fastest time, picking up her first second-run appearance in a World Cup race (only the top 30 advance). She then moved up from 28th to 20th on the strength of her second run, which was seventh-best and just just .37 behind race winner Mikaela Shiffrin's second-run time.

Luczak's starting place of 46th was the third lowest to advance to the second run.

Cass Gray, who's taking a year off from CU to make an Olympic run, did not finish her first run and former Buff Mikaela Tommy was on the start list but did not start the first run.

The next World Cup action for Luczak are giant slalom and slalom races in Lienz, Austria, Dec. 28-29.

Women's Alpine Updates

Gray also competed in Nor-Am Cup races in Panorama last week and was joined by freshmen Cleo Braun and Katie Fleckenstein. Gray won one of the two GS races and was second in the Super G, picking up 180 Nor-Am Cup points in the process.

Katie Fleckenstein finished 31st in a slalom Nor-Am race at Panorama and is staying there for FIS races this week, where she took seventh in a slalom on Sunday and 12th in a GS race Monday.

Braun then came back to Colorado for a FIS series that includes two GS races in Vail followed by slalom races in Steamboat Springs Monday through Thursday. Braun hit the podium in the first GS race at Vail Monday in third place.

Men's Alpine Updates

Senior Filip Foretek is in Europe where he has been busy the past few weeks. Since Dec. 9, he has competed in nine races, mostly on the European Cup. His best finish was 28th in a GS race Tuesday in Glungezer where he picked up European Cup points

Six other men's alpine skiers were in Panorama for the Nor-Am Cup races: Max Bervy, Alex Birkner, Jacob Dilling, Louis Fausa, Bobby Ryan and Chase Seymour.

Dilling took home a fifth place finish in one of the slalom races and a 16th place in one of the GS races there. Fausa was also impressive with a seventh place slalom and 14th place GS finish. Birkner finished 23rd in one of the two slalom races Ryan took 28th in one slalom race to pick up Nor-Am Cup points.

Seymour then traveled back to Colorado for the Vail and Steamboat Springs series this week and got off to a great start with a second place finish in Vail in a GS race Monday. Dilling then joined the fray in Vail Tuesday and won the GS race while Bervy took second in that race.

Both will join the women's alpine skiers in Steamboat Springs for slalom races this week.

Women's Nordic Updates

Sisters Weronika and Karolina Kaleta are in Europe competing in the World Cup. Their first stop was Davos, where Weronika took 60th in the sprint qualifier. She improved 13 spots at the next stop in Dresden where she took 47th and also was a part of the team sprint finals where Poland finished 18th.

Karolina finished 79th in the spring qualifier at Davos where she also took part in the 10K freestyle race, where she took 86th. In Dresden, she was 70th in the sprint qualifier and then her Polish team took 28th in the team sprint finals.

Freshman Kili Lehmkuhl was also in action in Far-West Nordic action near Lake Tahoe. She was second in the sprint qualifier and then hit the podium in third place for the women's sprint final, coming in one place behind her sister and former Buff Quinn Lehmkuhl. In the women's 5K freestyle race, she was again on the podium in third place, and again came in one place behind her sister Quinn.

Men's Nordic Updates

Will Koch won the 10K Classic race as part of the Roy Varney Eastern Cup race, coming in more than eight seconds ahead of the next competitor. He took another podium in the men's sprint races, finishing second in the qualifying and working his way through the heats to finish third in the final.

Wyatt Gebhardt and Noah Wheeless traveled to Aspen for the Raoul Wille Memorial last weekend. Gebhardt took a podium in third for the sprint skate race while Wheeless took 15th.

In Alaska, Alexander Maurer participated in the 2021 Besh Cup and finished sixth overall and second for U20, finishing the 15K freestyle race.

Former Buffs

Several former Buffs have had successes in their skiing in the past couple of weeks, as well.

Stef Fleckenstein, who has one year of eligibility remaining but is making an Olympic run this year, won two downhill races at Lake Louise in Nor-Am Cup races and then traveled to France and took 38th in the World Cup downhill at Val d'Isere.

Former men's alpine skier David Ketterer traveled to Italy where he won two FIS slalom races at Pfelders and then continued his good skiing in European Cup races, taking sixth at Obereggen and fifth in Val di Fassa on consecutive days.

Petra Hyncicova was with the Kaleta sisters in Davos and Dresden. In Davos, she was 44th in the 10K freestyle race and was 35th in the sprint qualifier. At Dresden, she took 40th in the spring qualifier and helped her Czech Republic team to a 17th place finish in the team sprint finals.

Alvar Alev was also in Davos, where he took 78th in the sprint qualifier and was 41st in the 15K freestyle race.

In biathlon action, former Buff Joanne Reid continued her World Cup season. In Hochfilzen, she was 47th in the 7.5K sprint, 46th in the 10K pursuit and she helped Team USA to a 12th place in the relay. More recently in Annecy, she was 48th in the spring and 50th in the pursuit races.

Players Mentioned

Max Bervy

Alex Birkner

Louis Fausa

Katie Fleckenstein

Stef Fleckenstein

Wyatt Gebhardt

Will Koch

Quinn Lehmkuhl

Bobby Ryan

Chase Seymour

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