Senior Adrian Minde Hunshammer, sophomore Pietro Motterlini, and freshman Cecilia Pizzinato from the University of Denver ski team made significant progress in the giant slalom on Wednesday during the final day of alpine racing at the 2026 Denver Invitational held in Aspen, Colorado.
“Overall, a decent day,” said DU Otto Tschudi Head Alpine Skiing Coach Joonas Rasanen. “We dusted the rust off of GS a little bit, and I feel like we have a lot to show tomorrow. Definitely a lot of bright spots with Pietro and Cecilia’s second run. By no means was that anything extra ordinary; I think they skied to their level, and hopefully tomorrow we can get two of those runs from both of them.”
Hunshammer posted the fastest time in the second run at Aspen Highlands, moving up from ninth to fourth place in the men’s event and earning his first career top-five finish. This result follows his eighth- and sixth-place finishes in previous slalom events at Loveland Ski Area earlier in the week.
Motterlini advanced 15 positions after his second run to finish 11th overall, having been 26th after his first descent. He recorded the third-fastest time among men on his second run.
Senior Christian Soevik achieved his first top-10 finish this season by placing ninth. Senior Thomas Hoffman tied for 14th place, graduate student Eirik Kveno finished 22nd, while freshman Caman Beauregard did not complete his first run.
“Very happy with Adrian’s second-run skiing today,” Rasanen said. “He put down a very solid run and skied smart, so that was super cool to see. He’s been putting in a lot of work, and it’s clearly showing up. We’re super happy for Adrian. Christian stepped up big today, but overall as a team we had a good attitude today and we’re looking forward to tomorrow.”
Graduate student Sara Rask continued her strong performance by finishing second behind Louison Accambray of Colorado in women’s giant slalom. Rask was seven-tenths of a second behind Accambray and over one second ahead of Westminster’s Guro Hested Vognild in third place.
Rask previously won both slalom races at Loveland earlier this week and has now reached the podium in seven consecutive races dating back to last season.
Pizzinato finished tenth for her first collegiate top-10 result after improving four places from her morning session standing.
Other notable results for Denver women included senior Mia Hunt finishing 13th, freshman Elisabeth Creighton placing 15th in her college GS debut, sophomore Stella Buchheister coming in 21st among college athletes, senior Josephine Trueblood finishing 22nd, and senior Nicola Rountree-Williams ending up 25th.
Denver alum Galena Wardle participated as a non-college invitee while continuing her professional career following recent injuries; she placed 21st among all competitors.
In team scoring for this event segment, Denver placed second among women’s teams with 78 points and third among men’s teams with 75 points.
The University of Colorado led both events with four top-10 finishers per race. After four out of eight events at the DU Invitational, Colorado holds first place with 353 points—37 ahead of Denver (316), which is itself more than thirty points clear of Utah (284.5) in third place.
Utah’s Johs Herland won his third straight men’s race this season after also winning both slaloms earlier this week. Other top performers included CU’s Justin Bigatel (second), Filip Wahlqvist (third), and Christoffer Oestroem (fifth).
The next phase for Denver will be hosting Nordic events at Maloit Park in Minturn next month as part of their home meet schedule; competition resumes Saturday, February 7 with a classical mass start followed by freestyle interval start on Sunday.
