Forejtek, Dilling Go 1-2 In SJN GS Race

NEDERLAND, Colo.—Filip Forejtek became the fifth different member of the Colorado Buffaloes Ski Team to win a race in 2023, doing so in dominant fashion here Thursday at Eldora Mountain Resort while enabling Buffs to maintain the lead the Nordic teams built last week in CU's own Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational.

Forejtek was joined on the podium by Jacob Dilling as the two earned podium appearances for the second straight day, in fact earning a 1-2 finish for the Buffs. Emma Hammergaard missed a podium on the women's side by two-hundredths of a second, taking fourth to lead the CU women.

The Nordic teams built a 57-point lead over Utah last week in Steamboat Springs, and the Buffs currently hold a 50-point advantage over the Utes with just two races remaining on Friday. The Utes outscored the Buffs by 21 points in the women's race to cut the Buffs lead to 36, but the men's team then picked up 14 points on Utah to push the lead back to 50, 522-472. Denver sits third with 398 points, 124 behind 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 skiers at Colorado with his 28th career top five finish, breaking a mark that the great Frank Brown set in 1959, some 64 years ago.

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

Hammergaard sat in third place after the first run and despite having the fourth-fastest second run, she dropped one spot into fourth and missed the podium by two-hundredths of a second. Elena Exenberger had a consistent 17th place finish in both runs and finished 16th, and Kaitlyn Harsch was the Buffs third team scorer in 19th place, moving up four spots on the strength of the 14th-fastest second run.

WHAT IT MEANS
The Buffs again proved that they have multiple threats in alpine to not only place in the top 10, but win races. With Forejtek and Dilling both getting wins in the last two days, and Hammergaard coming close to another podium herself. The depth is showing, too, with three men finishing in the top 10 and five in the top 20 and three women picking up top 20s.

UP NEXT
A busy few days lay ahead that will see the conclusion of the CU Invitational and entirety of the DU Invitational. Alpine teams will be in Eldora Friday for one more day of racing to close out the CU meet while the Nordic teams open DU Invitational races at Maloit Park. Saturday, alpine teams will open the DU Invitational while Nordic teams finish it up, and Sunday will close out the DU meet on the alpine side.

TEAM NOTES

The Buffs scored 162 points on the day, 98 in the men's race and 64 in the women's. Only Utah scored more, coming up with 169 on the day.
The Buffs lead the CU Invitational by 50 points over Utah and extended it's lead over third place Denver to 124 points, outscoring the Pioneers by 40 points in the two races.
Hammergaard (31 points), Exenberger (17) and Harsch (16) scored for the women's team and Forejtek (40), Dilling (37) and Fausa (21) for the men.
Forejtek gives the Buffs five skiers who have won a race this season alongside Hanna Abrahamsson, Magnus Boee, Anna-Maria Dietze and Dilling. It's the most individual skiers to win a 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 NOTES

Hammergaard finished fourth and has now finished in the top 10 in all four races this year, and it's her second top five along with a third place GS finish at Montana State. She now has two top five finishes in a row after having one such performance in her first 41 career races. She now has 19 top 10 finishes in 35 races finished.
Exenberger finished 16th and has picked up top 20 finishes in all 12 of her career finished races, out of 16 starts.
Harsch finished 19th, her second top 20 of the season and 26th of her career, 11th in GS races. She now has started 48 career races and has finished 37 of them.
Cleo Braun finished 27th for the Buffaloes.

MEN'S ALPINE NOTES

Forejtek picked up his fifth collegiate victory by winning both runs Thursday.
- He becomes the 18th men's alpine skier in CU history to win five or more races in a career.
- It's his 21st career podium appearance, tied for 14th in CU history, tied for ninth by men's skiers and he's now tied for second among men's alpine skiers with Niklas Scherrer 1981-83), behind only Frank Brown's 23 from 1957-59.
- It's his 28th career top five performance, setting a new CU mark for men's alpine, breaking a tie with Brown. He's now tied for 11th overall in CU history and tied for eighth by men's skiers. Brown's record held for 64 years. Brown did have 53 overall top five finishes in his 4-way career with 27 of them coming in alpine races.
- It's his 34th career top 10 finish, tied for 20th in CU history, tied for 11th for men's skiers and he's now alone in second place for 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 of his career races with 14 in the top 10, six in the top five and four podium appearances. Three of his four podium appearances have some this season.
Fausa finished 10th, moving up eight spots on the strength of the ninth-fastest second run, his best finish of the young season. He now has eight career top 10 finishes.
Birkner finished 13th, the best finish of his season and second best of his career (12th in the 2021 DU Invitational GS). He has now finished 33 of 38 career races with 15 top 20 performances.
Reich finished 20th for the best finish of his young CU career and first top 20 finish. He has steadily improved in every race finishing 40th in his first race in a CU uniform, then taking 29th, 27th before cracking the top 20 Thursday.
Chase Seymour finished 33rd and Sebastian Kohlhofer did not finish the second run.

SPENCER JAMES NELSON MEMORIAL CU INVITATIONAL TEAM RESULTS (Thru 6 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 collegiate finishers)—1. Sara 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. Ashleigh Alexander, UAA, 1:47.03; 8. Kristine Bekkestad, MSU, 1:47.04; 9. Ainsley Proffit, UAA, 1:47.23; 10. Denise Dingsleder, WMC, 1:47.31. Other CU Finishers: 16. Elena Exenberger, 1:48.01; 19. Kaitlyn Harsch, 1:48.22; 27. Cleo Braun, 1:50.28.

MEN'S GIANT SLALOM (38 collegiate finishers)—1. Filip Forejtek, CU, 1:38.90; 2. Jacob Dilling, CU, 1:39.40; 3. Gustav Vollo, UU, 1:39.50; 4. Wilhelm Normannseth, 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 Finishers: 13. Alex Birkner, 1:40.51; 20. Jack Reich, 1:41.73; 33. Chase Seymour, 1:43.91. Did Not Finish Second Run: Sebastian Kohlhofer.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Hanna Abrahamsson

Alex Birkner

Magnus Boee

Cleo Braun

Anna-Maria Dietze

Jacob Dilling

Elena Exenberger

Louis Fausa

Filip Forejtek

Emma Hammergaard

Kaitlyn Harsch

Sebastian Kohlhofer

Jack Reich

Chase Seymour

Joey Young