2018 Skiing Roster
Max Luukko
- Height:
- 6-4
- Weight:
- 215
- Class:
- Junior
- Hometown:
- Helsinki, Finland
- High School:
- Kuusamon Lukio/Finnish National Team
- Top Career Slalom Finish: First (2016 RMISA Championships)
- Top Career Giant Slalom Finish: Second (3x, last at the 2017 Alpine Qualifier)
Honors
- Five Time All-American
- First-Team All-American (2016 Slalom)
- Four-Time Second-Team All-American (2017 Giant Slalom, 2017 Slalom, 2018 Giant Slalom, 2019 Giant Slalom)
- RMISA Individual Champion (2016 Slalom)
- Two-Time All-RMISA
- First-Team All-RMISA (2016)
- Second-Team All-RMISA (2017)
- Four-Time National Collegiate All-Academic Ski Team (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019; 3.5 Cumulative GPA, Participation In Regionals)
- Morgan Family Buff Club Male Senior Scholar Athlete Award (2019; Top GPA Among Male Senior Student-Athletes, All Sports)
- Outstanding Career Achievement Award (2019)
- Finalist for Male Career Athletic Achievement (2019, CUSPYs)
- Two-Time RMISA Skier of the Week (2016 New Mexico Invitational; 2017 RMISA Qualifier)
- Two-Time CU Athlete of the Week (Jan. 23-29, 2017; Jan. 7-13, 2019)
- Four-Time Letterwinner (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
Career at Colorado—A five-time All-American, Luukko earned at least one All-America honor each of his four seasons as a Buff, including a first-team honor in the slalom his freshman season. He was twice an All-RMISA selection and the 2016 RMISA Individual Champion in the slalom. A four-time honoree on the National Collegiate All-Academic Ski Team, he was given the Morgan Family Buff Club Scholar-Athlete Award for having the top GPA among men's student-athletes across all sports at CU. He was given the CU Outstanding Career Achievement Award and was a finalist for Career Athletic Achievement at the CUSPY awards. He lettered four times and finished an astounding 55 of 56 career races including all 28 career GS races and 27 of 28 slalom races. He finshed in the top 10 a total of 34 times with 20 top five performances including nine podium appearances and one race victory.Â
2019 (Senior)—Luukko was one of just two men's alpine skier to finish all 12 races in his senior season, which culminated in his fifth All-America honor by taking home sixth place in the giant slalom at the NCAA Championships. He very well could have earned a sixth such award but lost his ski on the second to last gate in the slalom race at NCAAs. He had five top 10 finishes in 2019, all in giant slalom as he struggled a bit in slalom in his final campaign. He hit the top five twice and was on the podium once, taking third place in the GS race at the RMISA Championships in Alaska. He lettered for the fourth time in his career and scored for the team in 11 of the 14 races, including being the Buffs top finisher four times. One of the top academic student-athletes at CU, he earned mention on the National All-Adademic Ski team for the fourth time in his career and was given the Morgan Family Buff Club Scholar-Athelte Award for having the top GPA among all male senior student-athltes at CU. Â
2018 (Junior)—Collected All-America honors for a third-straight season as he placed in a tie for seventh with teammate David Ketterer in the giant slalom at the NCAA Championships … Finished 13 of 14 races on the season, was top 20 in 12 of those and had five top 10 finishes … Best result came in the slalom at the UNM Invite where he finished fifth in the first of two slalom races (he was eighth in the other) … Best giant slalom result was his sixth-place finish at the DU Invitational held at Loveland Ski Area.
2017 (Sophomore)—He garnered second-team All-America honors in both the slalom and giant slalom for his top 10 finishes at the NCAA Championships ... Selected to the All-RMISA second-team ... Finished in the top 10 in all seven of his giant slalom races and he had six top 10’s in the slalom ... Overall on the season, he reached the podium three times with his highest finish being second in the giant slalom alpine qualifier at Montana State in his very first race of the season ... Earned RMISA Skier of the Week honors for his performance in the alpine qualifiers, as he placed fourth in the slalom qualifier that was held in Utah ... That started a string of five-straight races where he finished fifth or better, as he had a good showing in the two Alaska meets ... His top finish there was third in the GS in the Alaska Anchorage Invitational ... In the Seawolf Invitational, he placed fourth in the slalom, matching the slalom qualifier as his top finish in the event on the season ... At the RMISA Championships, he placed fifth in the slalom and eighth in the GS ... Capped off his second season as a Buff placing ninth in the giant slalom and eighth in the slalom at the 2017 NCAA Championships ... Prior to the start of the collegiate season, he won the giant slalom in a FIS race held Dec. 1, 2016 at Copper Mountain ... He also competed at the Alpine NorAm Cup held at Spruce Peak in Stowe, Vt. where he finished ninth in the slalom race on Jan. 4 and 17th in the giant slalom on Jan. 2.
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2016 (Freshman)—He put together one of the better men’s alpine performances in recent memory, finishing all 14 races on the season with 13 top 20s and 10 finishes in the top six ... Had nine top five performances with five podium appearances and one race victory ... His race victory earned him the individual RMISA Championship in the slalom race at Beaver Creek and he had a run of four-straight podium appearances between the New Mexico Invitational and the RMISA Championships (three slalom, one giant slalom) ... Finished fifth in the slalom race at Howelsen Hill under the lights at the NCAA Championships and earned first-team All-America honors for that finish ... Named first-team All-RMISA and was the RMISA Skier of the Week for the New Mexico Invitational ... His top giant slalom performance was a pair of third place finishes at the CU Invitational and RMISA Championships.
Prior to CU—He skied for Finnish National Team beginning in 2010, four seasons in Junior Team and on the men's B-team 2014-16 ... Skied at the Kuusamo Alpine Academy during his high school years and for the Finnish Military Ski Team in 2014-15 ... Has been racing FIS races since 2009 and has finished 121 of 189 races prior to the start of his collegiate career with 87 top 10, 38 podium appearances and 19 victories … Won his first FIS race in downhill in Yllaes in Finland in 2012, and during the 2015 season, he won five races; one in slalom, two in super-G, one in downhill and one super-combine ... He once started in World Cup, in slalom, in Levi 2014 ... He has 27 European Cup starts and 14 Junior World Ski Championships starts ... In Junior World Ski Championships, he finished nine races, three times in top 25 ... In 2015 he finished on 12th place in the slalom, in Hafjell in Norway ... He has 27 National Championship races to his credit from Norway, Finland and Sweden ... He won three titles at the Finnish National Championships in 2015; one in super-G, one in super combined and one in downhill ... In the slalom he finished fifth and in giant slalom he finished second.
High School—Luukko graduated from Kuusamo High School, Finland.
In the Classroom—Luukko is studying business at Colorado … He was named to the 2016, 2017 and 2018 USCSCA National Collegiate All-Academic Ski Team, which requires a cumulative 3.5 grade point average and competing at the NCAA Regional Championships … He was inducted into CU’s 4.0 club for having a 4.0 grade point average for the fall 2017 semester.
Personal—Max Luukko was born Jan. 4, 1994, in Espoo, Finland ... He enjoys playing tennis, golf and all type of sports … In the summer of 2018 he completed an internship with a bank in Helsinki, Finland.
| 2016 | GS | SL |
| Utah Invitational | 5 | 11 |
| Montana State Invitational | 5 | 18 |
| Colorado Invitational | 3 | 17 |
| RMISA Qualifiers | 5 | 6 |
| New Mexico Invitational | 2 | 2 |
| RMISA Championships | 3 | 1 |
| NCAA Championships | 22 | 5 |
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| 2017 | GS | SL |
| Montana State Invitational | 3 | 13 |
| Utah Invitational | 5 | 7 |
| RMISA Qualifiers | 2 | 4 |
| Seawolf Invitationals | 5 | 4 |
| Alaska Anchorage Invitational | 3 | 5 |
| RMISA Championships | 8 | 5 |
| NCAA Championships | 9 | 8 |
| 2018 | GS | SL |
| Montana State Invitational | 16 | 21 |
| Utah Invitational | 11 | D2 |
| New Mexico Invitational* | 5 (SL) | 8 |
| Denver Invitational | 6 | 12 |
| RMISA Qualifiers* | 16 | 11 (GS) |
| RMISA Championships | t13 | 9 |
| NCAA Championships | t7 | 14 |
