Completed Event: Skiing versus 20K Freestyle (M) on March 8, 2025 , , 1st
Final Score
Skiing
1st
vs 20K Freestyle (M)
Wednesday, March 6
Steamboat Springs, CO
9:30 AM
University of Utah
vs
Giant Slalom
Photo by: Eli Rehmer/Utah Athletics
Solbakken Wins Men’s GS Individual Championship on Day One of NCAAs
3/6/2024 5:16 PM | Skiing
Utah goes 1-2 in the men’s giant slalom while Hoffman and Norbye ski to women’s podium
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – Led by an individual men's giant slalom title for Mikkel Solbakken, plus Madison Hoffman's share of second place in the women's competition, the Utah Ski Team kicked off the 2024 NCAA Championships with races on Wednesday at Steamboat Resort.
The Utes lead the team standings after one day of races with 154.5 points, with Colorado in second and with 137.5 points. The NCAA Championships continue on Thursday with the first day of Nordic events; it'll be a 7.5K freestyle interval start as teams move to Howelsen Hill. The men's race will go off at 10 a.m. with the women to follow at noon.
On a day where both the men's and women's races came down to the wire, it was an incredible way for Utah to begin the meet as Sindre Myklebust (1:44.85) was the men's runner-up in his first NCAA Championships start. In the women's race, Hoffman was the top Ute (1:55.69) and Kaja Norbye placed sixth (1:56.29), rounding out four All-America awards going to the Utes.
Hoffman, Myklebust and Solbakken all reeled in All-America First Team while Norbye claimed a Second Team citation.
With a time of 1:44.78, Solbakken's individual title was the 85th individual NCAA Championship in the Utah Ski Team's recorded history. It's the seventh men's giant slalom title at Utah and first since Endre Bjertness was atop the podium in 2016. Not to mention it was familiar territory for Solbakken, the 2021 men's GS individual NCAA champion while he skied at Westminster.
"Our whole idea was to come out on offense," said head alpine coach JJ Johnson. "Mikkel did the same thing he's always done. It's unbelievable. Sindre wasn't in the conversation (for NCAAs) a month ago and he's been trending upward. His personality, how he's been as a teammate and how he looks at courses—for him to do that today was incredible.
Johnson continued, "For Madi, there was a lot of pressure after winning GS and slalom last year. The nerves were there, but she made it through. Magdalena Luczak (of Colorado) was so fast. For Madi to get second was so incredible. Kaja skied better on the second run and is skiing better in GS. Michelle was a little tight on the first run but moved up and gave us a couple points."
Raphael Lessard rounded out the men's lineup for Utah in 21st place and Michelle Kervén took 26th on the women's side.
The men's giant slalom began the day's action and Solbakken won a tight first run with a time of 51.68 seconds, edging Colorado's Etienne Mazellier by one-hundredth of a second. Myklebust was seventh at the break and Lessard checked in 23rd on his opening run.
Hoffman's first run clocked at 1:00.12, putting her third at the break. Norbye was eighth after the morning and Kervén was 30th entering the flip ahead of the second run.
As the men's race hit the home stretch, Myklebust drove the bus with a top second run time of 52.80 seconds—at the time putting him into the lead with six athletes still to go.
Denver's Christian Soevik came the closest to taking the lead from Myklebust, before Solbakken—the final racer in the field—put down a second run time of 53.10 seconds to claim the victory with his total time of 1:44.78. It wrapped up 87 points for Utah, the highest men's GS team total in the field.
"I think we all prepared really good," said Solbakken. "The whole team has been preparing for this moment. Mentally, I know I can ski fast on this hill. It's nice to see I can pull it off. You don't know how the East guys are skiing (going into NCAAs), so it's really nice to send a good run on the first run. On the second run, I knew I wanted to do the same thing."
As the action turned back to the women's race, Kervén was first down the hill for the Utes in the second run and climbed four spots to finish 26th (1:59.51). Norbye put down a top-three second run that briefly put her into the lead, before Hoffman climbed into first place.
Colorado's Denise Dingsleder followed Hoffman as the penultimate racer as the duo moved into a tie. Luczak was the lone athlete still to go, and would ski into the finish area as the winner to close the race.
Follow the Utah Ski Team
Follow the Utah Ski Team on social media @utahskiteam.
The Utes lead the team standings after one day of races with 154.5 points, with Colorado in second and with 137.5 points. The NCAA Championships continue on Thursday with the first day of Nordic events; it'll be a 7.5K freestyle interval start as teams move to Howelsen Hill. The men's race will go off at 10 a.m. with the women to follow at noon.
On a day where both the men's and women's races came down to the wire, it was an incredible way for Utah to begin the meet as Sindre Myklebust (1:44.85) was the men's runner-up in his first NCAA Championships start. In the women's race, Hoffman was the top Ute (1:55.69) and Kaja Norbye placed sixth (1:56.29), rounding out four All-America awards going to the Utes.
Hoffman, Myklebust and Solbakken all reeled in All-America First Team while Norbye claimed a Second Team citation.
With a time of 1:44.78, Solbakken's individual title was the 85th individual NCAA Championship in the Utah Ski Team's recorded history. It's the seventh men's giant slalom title at Utah and first since Endre Bjertness was atop the podium in 2016. Not to mention it was familiar territory for Solbakken, the 2021 men's GS individual NCAA champion while he skied at Westminster.
"Our whole idea was to come out on offense," said head alpine coach JJ Johnson. "Mikkel did the same thing he's always done. It's unbelievable. Sindre wasn't in the conversation (for NCAAs) a month ago and he's been trending upward. His personality, how he's been as a teammate and how he looks at courses—for him to do that today was incredible.
Johnson continued, "For Madi, there was a lot of pressure after winning GS and slalom last year. The nerves were there, but she made it through. Magdalena Luczak (of Colorado) was so fast. For Madi to get second was so incredible. Kaja skied better on the second run and is skiing better in GS. Michelle was a little tight on the first run but moved up and gave us a couple points."
Raphael Lessard rounded out the men's lineup for Utah in 21st place and Michelle Kervén took 26th on the women's side.
The men's giant slalom began the day's action and Solbakken won a tight first run with a time of 51.68 seconds, edging Colorado's Etienne Mazellier by one-hundredth of a second. Myklebust was seventh at the break and Lessard checked in 23rd on his opening run.
Hoffman's first run clocked at 1:00.12, putting her third at the break. Norbye was eighth after the morning and Kervén was 30th entering the flip ahead of the second run.
As the men's race hit the home stretch, Myklebust drove the bus with a top second run time of 52.80 seconds—at the time putting him into the lead with six athletes still to go.
Denver's Christian Soevik came the closest to taking the lead from Myklebust, before Solbakken—the final racer in the field—put down a second run time of 53.10 seconds to claim the victory with his total time of 1:44.78. It wrapped up 87 points for Utah, the highest men's GS team total in the field.
"I think we all prepared really good," said Solbakken. "The whole team has been preparing for this moment. Mentally, I know I can ski fast on this hill. It's nice to see I can pull it off. You don't know how the East guys are skiing (going into NCAAs), so it's really nice to send a good run on the first run. On the second run, I knew I wanted to do the same thing."
As the action turned back to the women's race, Kervén was first down the hill for the Utes in the second run and climbed four spots to finish 26th (1:59.51). Norbye put down a top-three second run that briefly put her into the lead, before Hoffman climbed into first place.
Colorado's Denise Dingsleder followed Hoffman as the penultimate racer as the duo moved into a tie. Luczak was the lone athlete still to go, and would ski into the finish area as the winner to close the race.
Follow the Utah Ski Team
Follow the Utah Ski Team on social media @utahskiteam.
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