COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. – Utah's
Joachim Lien won the men's giant slalom by three-hundredths of a second and
Kaja Norbye earned a third-place finish in the women's competition as the Utes returned to the RMISA schedule on Thursday at Copper Mountain.
As Thursday's competition served as an extra qualifying event and not part of any meet, no team scores were kept.
Lien's victory was his seventh as a Ute (third in giant slalom), with each of his six prior triumphs coming during the 2020 season.
Wilhelm Normannseth and
Gustav Vøllo finished in a tie for seventh place, and also in the top-20 were
Jeremy Mathers (15
th),
Oliver Parazette (17
th) and
Bjorn Brudevoll (19
th).
Three Utes' second runs were among the top-five including Lien (1
st; 49.45), Normannseth (2
nd; 49.65) and V
øllo (5
th; 49.89).
Norbye hit the podium for the second time in her career, and first since January 23 in giant slalom at the RMISA Invitational. Her opening run (53.71 seconds) was the second-best time in the field.
Making their returns from Olympic competition,
Katie Parker tabbed 12
th place and
Katie Vesterstein was 17
th on the day.
Sona Moravcikova was 18
th and
Michelle Kervén rounded out the Utes in 23
rd.
Utah remains at Copper Mountain on Friday, Feb. 18 for an additional giant slalom competition, this time to begin the Denver Invitational. The Utes will then transition to Keystone Resort for slalom racing on Monday, Feb. 21.
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