Experienced Utes Ready for 2022 Ski Season

Photo by: Forrest Gmitro

12/23/2021 2:27 PM | Skiing

Nordic collegiate circuit begins Jan. 2, alpine RMISA slate opens Jan. 18

Looking back, perseverance and resilience are just two ways you could describe the 2021 Utah ski season.

Coming off a 2020 campaign in which Utah was ahead at the NCAA Championships halfway through before the event was cancelled due to the pandemic, the Utes continued to face challenges in '21. But this group kept alive a love and passion both for skiing and for their teammates. The end results?

A national championship, the 14^th in Utah's program history. Sixteen individual All-America accolades. Nine podium finishes at NCAAs. Two individual NCAA wins for Sydney Palmer-Leger. An RMISA crown. And the list goes on.

Pretty impressive if you ask us.

"The whole year saw the entire team come together," said director of skiing Fredrik Landstedt. "They really learned to cope with all the adversities that were going on. You could choose last year to stay home and study the whole year, but everyone on our team decided to come back and represent the University of Utah. In the end, I think the team and the coaches did an awesome job using this as an opportunity for us to get stronger."

And get stronger they did—something that is going to prove crucial for the entire team heading into 2022. It's a cohesive Utes group, some of whom kickstarted the year with reps on the world stage, some hoping to make a push for the Olympics, and get ready for what lies ahead starting in January on the collegiate circuit.

Utah's Nordic team begins the RMISA schedule on Jan. 2 hosting the Utah Invitational at Soldier Hollow, and the alpine squad gets underway on Jan. 18 with the Montana State Invitational at Bridger Bowl.

"Overall, I think we're stronger than we were last year," Landstedt added. "But I also assume that the competition is stronger. We have to work harder than everyone else in order to stay on top."

A LOOK ON THE ALPINE SIDE

Bolstering a strong, deep core of returning Utes with talented newcomers this year has led to a lot of excitement for head alpine coach JJ Johnson. All-Americans Joachim Lien, Wilhelm Normannseth, Katie Parker, Katie Vesterstein and Gustav Vøllo each are back and instilling a culture of dedication among the new additions to the roster.

"There's communication, attention to detail," Johnson said. "It's clear in how they show up on the hill for training, not just going through the motions. It's fun to watch those that have been here grow into leaders. You need the leaders to bring out the best in everyone."

Parker has been among the Utes active in Nor-Am competition and tallied a fifth-place finish in Giant Slalom at Panorama, British Columbia on Dec. 16. Regarded among Utah's top GS skiers, Parker is also showing improvement in slalom, working her way into the top-15 at Copper Mountain, Colorado (Nov. 22-23) and logging a top-10 finish at Panorama (Dec. 17).

Even as a freshman, Johnson complimented the consistency of Kaja Norbye, an Oslo, Norway native with six top-five finishes across Nor-Am competition in the last month and highlighted with a podium finish in Giant Slalom at Panorama (Dec. 16).

On the men's side, Lien continues to shine both on the hill and as a leader of the team. Earning First Team All-America honors in both slalom and GS at last year's NCAA Championships, Lien had two top-15 finishes in GS earlier this month in that group of Utes racing in Panorama at the Nor-Am Cup.

Oliver Parazette has a pair of top-10 slalom finishes this month, a stretch that has seen Parazette racing at Nor-Ams with a ninth-place effort and 10^th in FIS competition at Howelsen Hill. Lien was also part of that slalom race and finished fifth.

Collegiate competition for the alpine squad gets underway from Jan. 18-20 at Bridger Bowl with the Montana State Invitational and RMISA Invitational. Teams will then move to Park City from Jan. 23-25 for the RMISA Invitational and Utah Invitational. In addition, after an idle period, Denver will host an alpine-only meet at Aspen Highlands on Feb. 19-20.

The RMISA Championships are scheduled for Feb. 23-26 at Steamboat Springs, where both alpine and Nordic teams will race.

A LOOK ON THE NORDIC SIDE

Just as with the alpine team, the 2021 national championship was a tribute to the tireless effort put in by the Nordic squad. At the same time, the Utes have stayed motivated in their training and recognize the hard work it will take to reach the goal of repeating in '22.

"The national championship was great," said head Nordic coach Miles Havlick. "It's easy to let your guard down and get comfortable. But the team has been working as hard as ever this Fall. It's been awesome and very productive across the board."

Every Ute who competed at NCAAs last season returns for 2022, highlighted by Sydney Palmer-Leger, who won both the 5K Classic and 15K Freestyle at last year's championship—an incredible feat for the then-freshman. Samuel Hendry and Bjørn Riksaasen are back on the men's side, two more Utes among the All-America honorees in 2021.

Also pulling in All-America laurels, and expected to again make noise for the Utes, were Samuel Hendry, Luke Jager, Novie McCabe and Julia Richter.

Four Utes were around the globe at World Cup action over the last month, racing against the best in the sport from all over. Jager, McCabe and newcomer Sophia Laukli each scored World Cup points and qualified for the Tour de Ski, scheduled to begin Dec. 28 before returning to the college circuit in mid-January. Palmer-Leger also saw time on the World Cup stage.

The Nordic RMISA docket begins at Soldier Hollow with the Utah Invitational on Jan. 2 and Jan. 6, before the Utes head to Sun Valley for the Montana State Invitational on Jan. 15-16. Alaska Fairbanks will also host a Nordic meet at Birch Hill on Feb. 1-2, and teams will remain there for the RMISA Invitational on Feb. 5-6. From there, attention will turn to the RMISA Championships in late February.

2022 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS TO BE HOSTED BY UTAH

For the first time since 2014, the path to the NCAA title runs through Utah as the championships are scheduled for March 9-12, 2022 at Park City Mountain Resort and Soldier Hollow Nordic Center. More information on the championships will be announced soon.

"It's great to have the championships here at home and in front of our home fans," said Landstedt. "You can walk up to pretty much any point in the Nordic course, and up the hill to watch the alpine runs. It's a great sport to watch and hopefully we get a lot of people out there."

For a complete look at the 2022 Utah schedule, click here. The full roster is available here.

Follow UtahUtes.com and @utahskiteam across social media for continuing coverage of the team.