Hoffman Takes Second in Slalom as Utes Hold Lead Entering Final Day of NCAAs

Friday, March 8

Steamboat Springs, CO

6:40 PM

University of Utah

Slalom

Photo by: Eli Rehmer/Utah Athletics

Hoffman Takes Second in Slalom as Utes Hold Lead Entering Final Day of NCAAs

3/9/2024 12:56 AM | Skiing

Results

Meet concludes Saturday with 20K classic races beginning at 10 a.m.

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – Racing before a Howelsen Hill crowd estimated at about 2,000 fans, Madison Hoffman of the Utah Ski Team turned in a second-place women's slalom result, while Mikkel Solbakken once again led the charge for the Utah men in third place on Friday—the penultimate night of the 2024 NCAA Ski Championships.

Utah carries a meet-leading 444.5 points into tomorrow's final day of the meet, with Denver (401) in second place, 43.5 points behind the Utes. Colorado (393.5) caps the top-three in the team standings. Utah also edged Denver for the most alpine points in the field, with the Utes tallying 286.5 points across the giant slalom and slalom days. Utah's 152 men's alpine points were also a meet-best.

With alpine action now in the books, the last day of the meet will feature 20K classic races at Howelsen Hill. The women's field will kick things off on Saturday at 10 a.m. and the men will follow at noon.

"This was a super exciting competition at Howelsen Hill this evening," said director of skiing Fredrik Landstedt. "Our alpine team came through big time! It was very impressive for them to ski so well under all the pressure. I am amazed by the performances of the entire team, but especially by Madison Hoffman and Mikkel Solbakken. We are in a great position and the last day of Nordic will be exciting. Anything can still happen."

Hoffman turned in her second runner-up performance (1:25.56) of these NCAA Championships in a race that came down to the wire, in a similar fashion to Wednesday's giant slalom. She took the lead after her second-run time of 42.52 seconds was second-best in the field, remaining there until Colorado's Magdalena Luczak--the final racer on the course--claimed the title. Still, Hoffman earned a podium result and her fourth career First Team All-American nod.

"I definitely was a little nervous on the first run," Hoffman said. "We had the team lead going into today, but slalom is always a gamble. I knew I had to send it on the second run and was very happy to climb up nine places, end on the podium and get some points for the team. I really wanted to put down some skiing that I would be proud of at the end of the day. I knew that if I put up the handbrake or was defensive, it wouldn't have turned out the way I wanted. So I knew I had to just go for it, and trust I could make it down."

Solbakken picked up his second All-American award of the week and fifth of his career—four of which are First Team. Along with him in Utah's men's lineup were Raphael Lessard in 13^th place (1:20.55) and Sindre Myklebust placing 18^th (1:20.92). On the women's side, Michelle Kervén (1:26.79) and Kaja Norbye (1:26.89) took 15^th and 17^th, respectively.

Head alpine coach JJ Johnson added, "We came out and wanted to ski loose and extend the lead. Each individual was just a little conservative and nervous to say the least. They all put themselves in good positions for second run. With the crowd here, it was pretty amazing that we could race in this kind of scenario."

Hoffman also commended the crowd and the overall race environment, which also featured fireworks between the first and second runs.

"The vibe here was insane," she said. "It was definitely one of the most fun ski races that I've been part of. Having so much of our team out here watching and supporting was a cherry on top of the cake."

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