Wahlqvist Wins Slalom As Buffs Lead DU Invitational

GEORGETOWN – Filip Wahlqvist made it two-for-two to start the 2025 ski season, winning his second straight slalom race and propelling the Colorado Buffaloes ski team into first place after the first day of the Denver Invitational, raced her at Loveland Ski Area Tuesday.

Just behind Wahlqvist was Etienne Mazellier, giving the Buffs a 1-2 performance in the men's race and coupled with a 3-4 performance from Ashley Campbell and Louison Accambray on the women's side, the Buffs racked up 181 points and lead by 23 points over Utah (158) and Denver (154.5).

Wahlqvist won his second straight race and sixth of his career, all in slalom. In just nine career slalom races, he has won six and sits in second place for most men's slalom wins by a CU skier. Mazellier also hit the podium for the second straight race to start the season after taking third in Monday's qualifier race. Justin Bigatel finished eighth in his first college finish and Jacob Dilling (10th) and Jack Reich (13th) gave CU five of the top 13 finishers in the race.

Campbell picked up her second collegiate podium and continued her hot start to the 2025 season by taking third place in the women's race, and she was just ahead of freshman Louison Accambray, who took fourth place. Campbell had the third fastest first run and held onto the position while Accambray had the ninth fastest first run and then scorched the course for the second-fastest second run to move up to fourth place. Hannah Saethereng was CU's third scorer in 19th place and Cathink Lunder finished 22nd for the Buffaloes.

WHAT IT MEANS: Anytime you hold the lead in a meet, it's a good thing, and not only do the Buffaloes have the lead, they have a 20-plus point lead over both Utah and Denver. There's still a long way to go and Wednesday's giant slalom races, the first of the season, will be telling, but overall the Buffs are off to a fantastic start with two race wins, six podiums and 19 overall top 20 finishes to open the season.

UP NEXT: The alpine portion of the Denver Invitational will conclude Wednesday as teams travel from Loveland Ski Area over to Copper Mountain for giant slalom races. The alpine teams will then be done for the month of January and pick back up for a busy February on Feb. 3-4 at Montana State. The Nordic teams have two more January meets, meanwhile, the Utah Invitational Jan. 18-19 at Soldier Hollow and the MSU meet at Crosscut Mountain Jan. 24 and 26.

US NORDIC NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: On Tuesday, Nordic teams finished up action at the 2025 U.S. National Championships in Anchorage with freestyle sprint races. The race did not count toward NCAA qualification of for any regular season meet, but the Buffs had some solid results that were similar to the classic sprint results. On the women's side, Karolina Kaleta advanced to the heats after placing 21st in the qualifier race while CU's men fared a little better with Trey Jones in second, Hugo Hinckfuss in sixth and Will Koch in ninth. In the heats, Kaleta than advanced out of her quarterfinal bracket and officially finished in the top 10. On the men's side, Hinckfuss did not start his quarterfinal heat and Koch was disqualified, but Jones advanced to the semifinals and just missed the final, ending up in seventh place overall.

TEAM NOTES:
•   Colorado scored 181 points on the day, becoming the first RMISA team to score 100 in any race in the men's slalom race and adding 81 points in the women's race, which was third but just 3.5 points behind the first place team (Alaska Anchorage).
•   In the men's race, CU scored 40 points for Wahlqvist's win, 37 for the second place finish from Mazellier and 23 from Bigatel in eighth place.
•   In the women's race, CU scored 34 points from Campbell's third place finish, 31 points from Accambray's fourth place finish and Saethereng scored 16 points.

WOMEN'S ALPINE NOTES:
•   Campbell remained hot to start the 2025 season taking third place for the second straight race. Last season, her best finished in either discipline was 14th and thus she now has two career podiums, top 5's and top 10's to her credit.
•   Accambray took a top 10 for her seconds straight race to open her collegiate career, taking fourth place after finishing eighth the day before. Her first top 5 gives her two straight top 10 finishes to open her career.
•   Saethereng got her 48th career top 20 performance, second as a Buff, and 24th in slalom races.
•   Lunker finished 22nd after taking 12th in Monday's qualifier races.
•   Exenberger and Fleckenstein both did not finish the race, Fleckenstein in the first run and Exenberger in the second.

MEN'S ALPINE NOTES
•   Wahlqvist won his second straight slalom race of the season and fourth straight dating back to last season, matching the CU record held by both Buddy Werner (1961-63) and David Ketterer (2018). He also claimed his sixth career slalom victory, which is now tied for second all-time at CU with Stephan Heinzsch (1975-78) and just one off the CU career mark of seven held by John Skajem (1986-87). Wahlqvist has won his six slalom races in just nine starts early in his sophomore season. His career win percentage in men's slalom is now 66.7 percent, which is the only mark over 50 percent in CU history (David Ketterer won five of 11 career slalom races, 45.5 percent).
•   Mazellier hit the podium in second place for a new career best finish and his second career podium, both in the last two races. He had three top 5's in GS last season but the second and third place slalom finishes this season are first two podiums and top 5s and his second and third career top 10 in slalom.
•   Bigatel finished eighth in his first collegiate finish, after not finishing Monday's qualifier race.
•   Dilling finished 10th for his 19th career top 10 finish, 10th in slalom. It matches his season best slalom finish from 2024 and is the best since a second place finish in 2023 also at the DU Invitational.
•   Reich, who finished 21st Monday, got his second career top 20 in slalom races and the best of his caeer in 13th place, six better than his previous best of 19 back in the 2022 season.
•   Fausa did not finish the second run.

TEAM STANDINGS (Thru 2 of 8 Races): 1. Colorado 181; 2. Utah 158; 3. Denver 154.5; 4. Alaska Anchorage 124.5; 5. Nevada 85; 6. Montana State 83; 7. Colorado Mountain 75; 8. Westminster 71.

Women's Slalom (32 collegiate finishers): 1. Sara Rask, DU, 1:29.43; 2. Ella Bromee, UAA, 1:29.71; 3. Ashley Campbell, CU, 1:30.51; 4. Louison Accambray, CU, 1:30.55; 5. Tea Kiesel, MSU, 1:30.65; 6. Carmen Nielssen, UAA, 1:30.87; 7. Kaila Lafreniere, UU, 1:30.98; 8. Nicola Rountree-Williams, DU, 1:31.21; 9. Claire Timmermann, UU, 1:31.33; 10. Ainsley Proffit, UAA & Mia Hunt, DU, 1:31.41. Other CU Finishers: 19. Hannah Saethereng, 1:33.20; 22. Cathinka Lunder, 1:33.74. Did Not Finish First Run: Katie Fleckenstein. Did Not Finish Second Run: Elena Exenberger.

Men's Slalom (30 collegiate finishers): 1. Filip Wahlqvist, CU, 1:31.35; 2. Etienne Mazellier, CU, 1:31.76; 3. Harry Hoffman, UU, 1:31.99; 4. Wilhelm Normannseth, UU, 1:32.24; 5. Loic Chable, DU, 1:32.28; 6. John Herland, UU, 1:32.29; 7. Roman Frost, WU, 1:32.32; 8. Justin Bigatel, CU, 1:32.55; 9. Thomas Hoffman, DU, 1:32.57; 10. Jacob Dilling, CU, 1:32.58. Other CU Finisher: 13. Jack Reich, 1:32.78. Did Not Finish Second Run: Louis Fausa.

Colorado University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Louison Accambray

Justin Bigatel

Ashley Campbell

Jacob Dilling

Elena Exenberger

Louis Fausa

Katie Fleckenstein

Hugo Hinckfuss

Trey Jones

Karolina Kaleta

Will Koch

Cathinka Lunder

Etienne Mazellier

Jack Reich

Hannah Saethereng

Filip Wahlqvist

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