Jessica Honkonen

Position:
Alpine
Height:
5-7
Class:
Senior
Hometown:
Espoo, Finland
High School:
Makelanrinteen Lukio/Finish Ski Team

Top Career Giant Slalom Finish: Sixth (2013 RMISA Championships)
Top Career Slalom Finish: First (2014 Montana State Invitational)

Honors

2013 & 2014 First-Team All-American (Slalom)
2013 & 2014 Second-Team All-American (Giant Slalom)
2015 Second-Team All-American (Slalom)
2013 & 2014 First-Team All-RMISA
2015 Second-Team All-RMISA
2013 RMISA Skier of the Week (Colorado Invitational) & 2015 RMISA Skier of the Week (RMISA Championships)
2014 Outstanding Alpine Woman Award
2014 CUSPY Female Athlete of the Year Nominee
CU Athlete of the Week (Jan. 6-12, 2014; March 3-9, 2014; Feb. 23-Mar. 1, 2015)
3x (2014-16) National Collegiate All-Academic Ski Team (3.5 GPA, Participation in Regionals)
2016 4.0 Club

Career at Colorado—Honkonen is now an upperclassmen and has established herself as one of, if not the best, slalom skiers in the nation. She repeated as a first-team All-American in the discipline after earning the No. 1 overall seed out of the RMISA for women’s alpine skiers. She is also extremely solid in giant slalom action as one of the best all-around skiers in the nation. In 28 career races, she has finished 25 of them with 18 top 10 finishes, six podium appearances and one race victory. She has finished 13 of her 14 slalom races, hiked twice and in the other 11 races she finished in the top five each time with six podium appearances and one victory. She enters 2015 with 18.90 FIS points in slalom action and 22.26 in giant slalom. She is ranked No. 130 in the world in slalom.

2016 (Senior)—She closed out her college skiing career looking to be one of the few female alpine skier to compete at the NCAA Championships four times and came up just short, injuring her knee in the first day of training ahead of the championships in Steamboat Springs. She also missed the CU Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational’s two races and one alpine qualifier there while she returned home to Finland on personal matters. In the nine races she did compete, she finished all nine and finished in the top 20 each time with seven top 10 performances and a pair of top five finishes. She had her best performances in Bozeman, taking fourth in both the slalom race as part of the Montana State Invitational and fourth in the RMISA Alpine qualifier GS race. A second-team All-RMISA performer, she was a finalist for CU’s CUSPY for Female Career Athletic Achievement. She was also a finalist at CUSPYs for the Spencer Nelson Buffalo Spirit Award. A member of the 4.0 club, she was named to the National Collegiate All-Academic Ski Team for maintaining above a 3.5 grade point average and competing at the RMISA Championships/NCAA West Regional.

2015 (Junior)—Prior to the start of the collegiate season, she finished 11th in a slalom race at the CU Jimmie Heuga Invitational at Echo Mountain, and then had a pair of fourth place finishes in slalom races at Steamboat Springs.

2014 (Sophomore)—Honkonen established herself as the top slalom skier in the RMISA as a sophomore, earning the No. 1 overall women’s alpine seed for the NCAA Championships. In seven slalom races, she hiked once, and finished in the top five in the other six races, including a fourth place at the NCAA Championships earning first-team All-America honors. She won the slalom race at the Montana State invitational, finished second at Utah and one of the two races in New Mexico, fourth at the Colorado Invitational and the NCAA Championships and fifth at the RMISA Championships. She also steadily improved throughout the season in giant slalom action, finishing with top 10 performances in each of the last three races, seventh in the second RMISA Qualifiers, sixth at the RMISA Championships and nine at the NCAA Championships, earning second-team All-America honors. She was also a first-team All-RMISA performer. She won the team’s Outstanding Alpine Woman Award and was a nominee for the CU Female Athlete of the Year across all sports. She was twice named the CU Athlete of the Week and was also named to the National Collegiate All-Academic Ski Team for maintaining a 3.5 grade point average. Prior to the season, she traveled to Italy to compete for her home country of Finland at the World University Games, and she had an impressive 15th place finish in the slalom race there, also finishing seventh in a slalom race in Italy not associated with WUG. After the season, she had a fifth and eighth place finish in slalom races in Canada in Nor-Am Cup competition and then in four days of racing at Vail, she closed out the season in style, winning two races, one giant slalom and one slalom, and finishing third in another slalom and fifth in another GS race.

2013 (Freshman)—Honkonen finished off a stellar freshman season in which she earned first-team All-RMISA honors and helped the Buffs to the NCAA Championship. She competed in all 14 races and finished 12 for CU, bringing home nine top 10 and five top 5 performances. In seven slalom races, she finished six and earned three podium finishes (a second and two thirds) and two more fourth place finishes. Also capable of top 10 giant slalom performances, she proved that on three occasions. She began her CU career off in style at the Colorado Invitational, where she finished seventh and eighth in giant slalom races and then third in the slalom race and earned the RMISA Skier of the Week honor. After not finishing two of the next three races at the Denver Invitational, she went on a tear and had six straight top 10 finishes over the next three meets, including the RMISA Championships, where she finished ninth in the giant slalom and led the Buffs with a fourth place slalom finish. She then took 16th in both GS and slalom action at the NCAA Championships. She earned first-team All-RMISA honors. After the college season was complete, she had several stellar results to end the overall season in Mammoth Mountain, Calif, and Vail. In six races, she had one win at a slalom in Vail, a second place slalom at Mammoth Mountain, a third place, two fourths and a fifth place.

Club—Honkonen has skied for Team Finland and the Santa Claus Ski Team and has been skiing in FIS races since 2004. She has finished 126 of 183 races prior to the start of her collegiate career with 94 top 20, 73 top 10, 43 top five, 30 podium appearances and 14 victories. She won her first FIS race in Pyha, Finland, in 2004, and during the 2011 season, she won six races, five slalom and one giant slalom. She had seven World Cup listings from 2006-08 without a finish. She has 30 European Cup starts under her belt with 17 finishes and five top 10 finishes, all in slalom. She participated in North American Cup races prior to the start of her freshman season in 2013 in Colorado and Canada. She has 14 National Championship races to her credit from Norway, Finland and Sweden. She finished third in the slalom and eighth in the giant slalom at the 2012 Finish National Championships in Levi, Finland. At the 2007 Finish National Championships, she finished third in the giant slalom, fourth in the Super G and fifth in the slalom.

High School—Honkonen graduated from Makelanrinteen Lukio in Helsinki, Finland, in December 2008.

In the Classroom—Honkonen is majoring in Advertising at Colorado.

Personal—Jessica Sofie Honkonen was born April 16, 1989, in Helsinki, Finland. She enjoys arts, science, food and world traveling.