Filip Forejtek

Photo by: Getty Images

Photo by: Ed Kosmicki

Photo by: Kory Mortensen, Utah Athletics

Photo by: Brett Wilhelm, NCAA Photos

Photo by: Brooke Fredrickson

Position:
ALPINE
Height:
6-4
Class:
Junior
Hometown:
Ulice, Czech Republic
High School:
Masarykovo Gymnazium Plzen
Prev School:
ST Syaty Petr- LO/Czech Republic National Team

Olympian (2018 Peyong Chang)
National Skier of the Year (2022, Men’s Alpine)
Two-Time Colorado Skier of the Year (2022, ‘23, Colorado Ski & Snowsports Museum)
Two-Time Individual National Champion (2022 GS, 2023 GS)
Six-Time All-American
Four-Time First-Team All-American (2020 GS, 2021 Slalom, 2022 GS, 2023 GS)
Two-Time Second-Team All-American (2021 GS, 2022 Slalom)
Five-Time NCAA Championship Qualifier (2019, ‘20, ‘21, ‘22, ‘23)
Third-Team CSC Academic All-American (2023 At-Large)
National Collegaite All-Academic Ski Team (2023)
Two-Time RMISA MVP (2021, ‘22, Giant Slalom)
Four-Time All-RMISA (2020, ‘21, ‘22, ‘23)
Three-Time First-Team All-RMISA (2020, ‘21, ‘22)
Second-Team All-RMISA (2023)
Two-Time Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll (2022, ‘23)
Tom Hansen Pac-12 Medal (2023)
CSC Academic All-Distrcit (2023 At-Large)
Two-Time CU Athlete of the Year (2022, ‘23 CUSPYs)
CU Career Athletic Achievement (2023 CUSPYs)
Three-Time RMISA Skier of the Week (2020 Utah Invite; 2021 RMISA Championships; 2022 Utah Invite)
Nine-Time CU Athlete of the Week (March 1, 2020; March 8, 2020; Jan. 17, 2021; Feb. 14, 2021; Feb. 21, 2021; Jan. 23, 2022; Jan. 30, 2022; March 14, 2022, March 11, 2023)
Dick Schoenberger Award (2022)
Outstanding Career Performance Award (2023)
Five-Time Letterwinner (2019, ‘20, ‘21, ‘22, ‘23)

At Colorado: Career—Forejtek used his extra season of eligibility granted for the COVID Pandemic and put his already record-breaking career essentially out of reach. In numbers that may not be seen again in college skiing, he finished his career starting 57 races with 41 finishes, 39 of which came in the top 20 and an astounding 35 in the top 10 and 29 in the top five, which include 22 podium appearances and six race wins. He ended his career as the back-to-back giant slalom National Champion and was extremely close to accomplishing the feat in slalom, as well, as he held the fastest runs in the competition in the first run in 2022 and second run in 2023 with small mishaps preventing him from the double sweep both years. A six-time All-American, including four first-team honors, he was four times named All-RMISA, three first-team honors, and twice an RMISA MVP. He was the National Skier of the Year in 2022, nine times a CU Athelte of the Week and three times the RMISA Skier of the Meet. He won the CU Athelte of the Year award among all sports twice and the CU Career Athletic Achievement Award for all-athletes and the Outstanding Career Performance Award for the ski team. Just the second five-time letterwinner in CU history, he compiled more top-five finishes (29) than any men’s alpine skier in CU history and was a close second in both top 10s (35, record 36 by Frank Brown, 1957-59) and podium appearances (22, record 23 by Frank Brown, 1957-59), and his six wins ranks 11th in CU history for men’s alpine skiers.

2023 (Graduate Student)—Forejtek took advantage of his extra season of eligibility given due to the COVID-19 Pandemic for the 2020 season, and enrolled in graduate school and competed for a fifth season for the Buffaloes. He became just the third skier in NCAA history to successfully defend his Individual National Championship in the GS by winning that race, enabling the Buffs to take a first-day team lead at the Championships, which stuck until the midpoint and eventually led to a second-place finish. Forejtek earned his fourth first-team and sixth overall All-America honors for his efforts in that race, and nearly pulled off the double, but had a mishap on the first slalom run and started last in the second run. Not for nothing, he won the second run and fittingly had the fastest time in the field in his final college race. He picked up where he left off and after finishing seventh in a slalom race at Westminster to open the season, he hit the podium for the first time in third the next day. At CU, he finished third in a GS qualifier race and then won his fifth career race in the CU Invitational the next day. After not finishing his second run in the final GS race at the CU meet, he slightly injured himself and those results showed in Alaska, where he didn’t finish any of the three races he started there uncharacteristically. But he rebounded for the NCAA Championships to repeat as the GS champion. In all, he finished six of 10 races he started with five top 10, four top 5, all podiums, and two wins. He picked up his fifth career letter and was second-team All-RMISA despite his injury and was named the Colorado Collegiate Men’s Skier of the Year by the Colorado Snowsports Museum for the second straight season. He also got it done in the classroom as an Academic All-American, earning third-team honors on the At-Large team from College Sports Communicators and was named Academic All-District, to the National Collegiate All-Academic Ski Team and the Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll. He was also given the prestigious Tom Hansen Medal by the Pac-12 at the conclusion of the spring.

2022 (Senior)—Forejtek, already having proven himself as a top threat in each race, took another step forward in 2022 and finished the season as the National Skier of the Year as voted on by the Ski Coaches Association. He won the individual NCAA Championship in the GS race at the NCAA Championships and was sitting in first place after the first run of slalom before finishing 10th and picking up two All-America honors, including one first-team honor. He was also named the Colorado Skier of the Year by the Colorado Ski & Snowsports Association and won the Men’s GS MVP from the RMISA, his second career honor. He was named the team’s MVP with the Dick Schoenberger Award and earned three CU Athlete of the Week honors and was the RMISA Skier of the Meet for the Utah Invitational. He skied in 12 of a possible 14 races throughout the season and finished 10 of them, all in the top 10 with seven top-five finishes, five podium appearances and three race wins. He opened the season at the MSU Invitational by winning the GS race and after not finishing his first slalom race of the season, he earned his second podium with a second-place slalom finish on the same course in an extra qualifier race. In Utah, he finished ninth in an extra GS qualifier before picking up two more podiums, taking second in the GS race and winning the slalom race as part of the Utah Invitational. At the Denver Invitational, he took fourth in both GS races and ninth in the slalom race just ahead of the RMISA Championships. At Steamboat, he didn’t finish the GS race as part of the RMISA Championships and then took the next two races off to rest for the NCAA Championships, where he won the GS individual title and was 10th in the slalom after holding the lead after the first run. He became the 15th men’s alpine skier in CU history to win a race in both disciplines in a season the 14th alpine skier (10th men’s alpine) to win at least two races in both slalom and GS in a career.

2021 (Junior)—Forejtek proved early in his junior season that his ascension to becoming a podium regular later in his sophomore season was no fluke, as he had one of the better men’s alpine seasons in CU history. He finished 11 of 12 races, finishing no lower than seventh with nine top-five finishes including seven podium appearances and one race win. In the Colorado series to open the season, he took second and third at GS races in Aspen for the DU Invitational, and after not finishing his first slalom race at Eldora despite having the fourth-fastest first run, he won his first college race that afternoon at the Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational. In Utah, he continued his brilliant skiing, taking third and fourth in slalom races at Snowbird at the RMISA Invitational at Westminster before finishing third and fifth in two GS races at Park City. At the RMISA Championships, he was sixth in the GS, and then finished second in the slalom race for the second straight season. He earned the RMISA Men’s Alpine MVP honor for GS, earning the most qualification points throughout the regular season, and had he finished fifth or better in the slalom race he didn’t finish at Eldora, he also would’ve won the slalom MVP honor. At the NCAA Championships, he earned two All-America honors, first team in the slalom after finishing second by just six-hundredths of a second, and seventh in the GS race to earn second team honors. He was named first-team All-RMISA, was the RMISA Skier of the Week for the RMISA Championships and picked up three CU Athlete of the Week honors.

2020 (Sophomore)—Forejtek emerged as the top threat for the men’s alpine team the second half of the season and continued to inch closer and closer to his first college win. He finished 10 of 13 races, all 10 coming in the top 14 with seven top 10 finishes, which were also top-five finishes including five podium finishes which include four second-place finishes. He was at his best late in the season, as he missed out on an RMISA Individual Championship and NCAA Individual Championship by a combined three-hundredths of a second. He was second in the slalom race at the RMISA Championships by one-hundredths of a second and then was runner-up in the GS at the NCAA Championships by just two-hundredths of a second after winning the first run. He earned a first-team All-America honor for his second-place GS finish and was also named first-team All-RMISA. He was the No. 2 seeded slalom and No. 5 seeded GS skier out of the RMISA for the NCAA Championships and ended up being the No. 3 overall seed from the league. He scored for the team in all nine available races and was the Buffs top finisher eight times, earning his second-letter award. He won two runs, the second slalom run at the Utah Invitational and the first run of GS in Bozeman at the NCAA Championships. He opened the season in Aspen with a DNF in the GS qualifier race and then finished 12th in the GS and 14th in the slalom as part of the DU Invitational. He then broke through for his first top five, taking fourth in the GS race at Eldora while finishing 12th in the slalom race for the CU Invitational before taking a DNF in the slalom qualifier race. Then it all clicked, he finished six of the last seven races of the season all in the top four with five podiums and four second-place finishes. He took second in the GS and fourth in the slalom in the Utah Invitational in Park City, while also placing second in the slalom qualifier race there and earning RMISA Skier of the Week honors. In Bozeman, he took a DQ in the GS qualifier after having the third-fastest first run and then took third in the GS and second in the slalom at the RMISA Championships, missing out on the individual slalom league championship by one-hundredth of a second. He took home the CU Athlete of the Week award for his performance in Bozeman. At the NCAA Championships, he had the fastest first run in the GS and finished second by two-hundredths of a second before the event was canceled the day before the slalom races were to have taken place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2019 (Freshman)—Forejtek injured himself in his first collegiate race at Eldora in the RMISA Alpine Qualifier #1 and was unable to come back for the GS race the next day as part of the Colorado Invitational. He did compete at Montana State, earning a 17th place finish in the GS race on Jan. 16 before not finishing the RMISA Alpine Qualifier #2 race the following day. He did not compete in the slalom races at Montana State, one as part of the MSU meet and one a make-up for the canceled race in Eldora for the CU Invitational. He missed both slalom races in New Mexico and came back full strength in Alaska for the UAA Invitational and RMISA Championships, taking second and fourth in two GS races there while not finishing either slalom race. He was the Buffs third qualifier for the NCAA Championships and did not finish his second run in the GS race and took 25th in the slalom race. He did letter by finishing as a team scorer three times in those four finishes.

Prior To CU—Forejtek competed for the ST Svaty Petr – LO club team and the Czech Republic National Team. He has competed at the highest levels including Olympics, World Championships and on the World Cup. He competed in six events at the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games, finishing 31st in the giant slalom, 34th in the Super G and 38th in the downhill. He didn't finish the slalom or alpine combined events and the Czech Republic finished ninth in the team event. In 2017, he competed at the World Championships in St. Moritz, taking home 39th in the alpine combined and 47th in the downhill while not finishing the giant slalom race. He has nine World Cup individual starts and one team event with four results, the top being a 31st place in alpine combined at Wengen in 2018. He competed at the Junior World Championships from 2015-18, taking fifth in the downhill in 2018 at Davos. He was also 15th in the alpine combined in 2016 at Sochi/Rosa Khutor. He has continental cup experience for the Australia/New Zealand Cup, the European Cup and South American Cup with a combined 39 starts and 28 finishes with three top 20 performances. He has competed at the Czech Republic National Championships from 2014-18, winning the alpine combined championship in 2018 in Spindleruv Mlyn. He also took the podium with a second-place finish in the giant slalom in 2017 at Strbske Pleso and third in the giant slalom in Spindleruv Mlyn in 2016. In all he has nine top 10 finishes in National Championship action in 17 starts. He's also competed in National Championship races in Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria and Switzerland. In all, he has skied in more than 285 FIS sanctioned races with 225 finishes including 70 top 10 and 53 top 5 finishes including 36 podium appearances and nine race wins.

High School—Forejtek graduated from Masarykovo Gymnazium Plzen in Pilsen, Czech Republic, in 2017.

In the Classroom—Forejtek is majoring in Computer Science at Colorado. He earned a mention on the Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll for the 2022 season.

Personal—Filip Forejtek was born November 3, 1997, in Pilsen, Czech Republic to Sabina Forejtkova and Lasislav Forejtek … He has three siblings, Jonas, Patrik and Eliska. His great-grandfather was a professional tennis player and he has other relatives who played professional tennis, as well. He enjoys traveling, listening to music and playing other sports, especially tennis, in his spare time.

Why Colorado—"I've known for over a year that I wanted to ski for a U.S. college team. I know a few guys who were here at CU and they strongly encouraged me to come here. I like the natural setting of Boulder a lot."