Magdalena Luczak

Photo by: Getty Images

Photo by: Alamy

Position:
Alpine
Height:
5-5
Class:
Sophomore
Hometown:
Lodz, Poland
High School:
I Liceum Ogolnokstztalcace
Prev School:
Polish National Team

Olympian (2022 Beijing)
Individual National Champion (2022, GS)
First-Team All-American (2022, GS)
NCAA Championship Qualifier (2022)
National All-Academic Ski Team (2022, 3.5 GPA, Participation In Regionals)
Female Athelte of the Year (CUSPY)
Female Freshman of the Year (CUSPY)
CU Athlete of the Week (March 14, 2022)
Outstanding Alpine Woman Award (2022)
Letterwinner (2022)

At Colorado: Career—Luczak will return to the Buffaloes after taking the 2023 season off to focus on competing for Poland on the international circuit, including 11 World Cup starts and three national championships. In her one short season at CU in 2022, she won the individual national championship in Giant Slalom.

2024 (So.)—Luczak has been competing on the World Cup circuit prior to the start of the college season and has responded with three top 30 and two top 20 finishes early in the season. She finished 30th in the season opener GS at Soelden in late October and then had her best World Cup finish taking 17th in Killington in November before bringing home another top 20 with 20th place in Lienz. She also won two GS races on the Nor-Am Cup in Tremblant, Quebec, on back-to-back days in mid December.

2023 (So.)—Luczak unenrolled in school and competed for Poland on the internal circuit. She had a solid season with 11 World Cup starts. Despite not earning any points, she also had success on the European Cup finishing second and fifth in two GS races at Zinal and sixth in the GS at the Italian National Championships where she was also in the top 10 in Super G and Slalom and she was at her best at the Polish National Championship, winning the title in the Giant Slalom, Super G and Alpine Combined events. She also competed at the World Championships in Sweden.

2022 (Fr.)—Luczak made the most of her first season on the CU Ski Team and despite only racing in five collegiate races, she made her mark by winning the Individual NCAA Championship in the GS race at the NCAA Championships. She also earned first-team All-America honors, was given the Female Athlete of the Year and Female Freshman of the Year at CU’s CUSPY Awards. She was given the team’s Outstanding Alpine Woman Award and was named CU’s Athlete of the Week in March. She originally planed to travel back-and-forth from Europe where she was skiing on the World Cup and eventually the Olympics for the Polish National Team, but a bout with COVID made her stay in Europe throughout the season. After competing in the GS, slalom and team parallel events at the Winter Olympic Games, she returned to the US and took part in the final three races of the season, taking fifth in a GS race before having to hike in a slalom race at the RMISA Championships, then taking seventh in an extra qualifier after the RMISA Championships. After petitioning the NCAA Ski Committee to be able to compete at the NCAA Championships, she responded by winning the giant slalom race despite starting 29th, the lowest starting position to win the race in NCAA Championships history. She then had to hike again in the slalom race at the NCAA Champiosnhips but did put up the fifth fastest second run in the field. Between the RMISA and NCAA Championships, she participated in the World Junior Championships Team Parallel event and would’ve been a favorite to win the GS race at that competition, but chose to compete for the Buffs and win an individual championship. In Beijing, she finished 26th in the GS race, did not finish the slalom race and was 10th in the team parallel event. She picked up 11 points in World Cup with a 20th place finish at Courchevel and her 170 GS points on the Europa Cup ranked 13th for the season, with her best finish being third at Andalo in a GS race.

Prior To CU—Luczak has skied for the Mitanski Zakopane club in Poland since 2008 and for the last few years has been a member of the Polish National Team. She has two World Cup starts to her credit and she also competed at the 2021 World Championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo where she finished 19th in the giant slalom race, four spots ahead of Cass Gray, who was believed to have been the top World Championship finish for a women’s alpine skier in CU history. She skied at the World Junior Championships three times with two top 20 finishes, taking 18th in slalom and 20th in GS at Val de Fassa in 2019. She has 37 continental cup starts in her career, mostly on the European Cup (29) but also four starts apiece on the Far East Cup and South American Cup circuits. She has eight top 20 finishes in the European Cup tour and had her best finishes of 12th (GS) and 13th (slalom) in 2021 at Reiteralm. She is a three-time Polish National Champion, winning the slalom title in 2018 at Sczyrk, the 2019 GS title at Szczawnica/Palencia and the 2021 GS title at Szczawnica. She was also runner up in the GS in 2018 and has five total top 10 finishes in national championships. She has also won seven Polish National Junior Championships. In all, she has 127 FIS-level races since her debut in Nov. 2017 at Solda, Italy, and she has 80 total top 30 finishes in those races with 45 top 10 performances and 20 podium appearances. Her podiums include 10 wins, seven runner-up and three third place finishes. Her 10 race wins include seven slalom wins and three in GS. Including her GS win at the Polish National Championships in 2021, she also won a slalom race at Zakopane, Poland, as her most recent slalom victory.

High School—Luczak graduated from I Liceum Ogolnoksztalcace in Lodz, Poland, in 2020. She earned a scholarship from the Polish Ministry for Education for academic and athletic achievement and was also given a Miasto Lodz scholarship.

In The Classroom—Luczak is interested in studying Business at Colorado.

Personal—Magdalena Luczak was born Dec. 31, 2001, in Lodz, Poland. Her parents are Michal and Iwona Luczak and she has one older sister, Maria. She speaks fluent Polish, English, German and Italian and her great grandfather was from Germany. She enjoys traveling, kite surfing and studying art history. She is an active member in a charity program in her hometown and has volunteered at a dog shelter.

Why Colorado?—”Joining the Buffs is an amazing opportunity for me. The ski team is very strong and ambitious and I think I’m the perfect fit. I will also receive a high level education.”