Freshman Synne Bollingmo achieved her first career podium as five University of Denver skiers finished in the top 10 during Saturday’s Nordic 10-kilometer classic at the DU Invitational, held at Frisco Nordic Center.
“It was a great day,” said Denver Nordic Head Skiing Coach Eliska Albrigtsen. “It’s our home venue and, we’ve basically practicing on it. They did a really great job prepping for it the past few weeks, and I thought they did a really great job executing the race the way they wanted to. They pushed hard when it hurt, which at this altitude hurts a lot.”
Bollingmo secured third place in the women’s event with a time of 29:08.6, narrowly edging out Montana State’s Kate Houser by half a second. Senior Eve-Ondine Duchaufour also placed in the top 10, finishing eighth with a time of 29:49.0.
“For a freshman to get a podium, it’s incredible,” Albrigtsen said. “She has been kind of looking for herself, and she finished and came over and said, ‘I finally felt like I was in my own body.’ That matters so much. We’re just climbing up as a team.”
In the men’s race, freshman Yannick Zellweger (25:19.2) and graduate student Sondre Oestervold (25:41.2) led Denver by placing fourth and fifth respectively. Senior Micah Steinberg recorded his best result to date by finishing eighth.
The Pioneers finished second in both team events on Saturday with 158 points each, keeping them in second overall with 474 points after six out of eight events. Colorado remains ahead in first place with 541 points.
Other contributors included freshman Ruby Serrouya as Denver’s third scorer for the women’s classical event; Estelle Darbellay placed twentieth and Maja Moland twenty-third among women competitors.
On the men’s side, sophomore Eemil Juntunen finished nineteenth while Joe Graziadei and Krystof Zatloukal were twenty-third and twenty-fifth respectively.
Colorado swept both individual races on Saturday; Tilde Baangman won the women’s event followed by Astri Lunde, while Storm Pedersen took first place among men ahead of teammate Johannes Flaaten.
The DU Invitational will conclude Sunday with freestyle interval start races scheduled at Frisco Nordic Center—men begin at 9 a.m., followed by women at 10 a.m.
