Buffs Continue Action At World University Games

TRENTINO, Italy—Rune Oedegaard finished seventh in the Cross Country Mixed Sprint Free and Shane McLean took 15th in the Women’s Super G race Sunday to highlight the University of Colorado contingent at the 26th Winter World University Games.

In alpine action, Saturday saw the Men’s Super G race on the alpine side and the Classic Sprint races on the Nordic side. On Sunday, the Women’s Super G race took place along with the Mixed Sprint Free races.

On the women’s side in the Classic Sprint races, former Buff Eliska Hajkova placed 25th in the qualification as the top 30 advanced to the quarterfinals. In Quarterfinal No. 3, she finished third out of six as two skiers from each Quarterfinal race advanced to the Semifinals. Her time of 3:35.26 in the quarterfinal was just six-tenths behind the qualifying time.

In men’s Classic Sprint action, former Buff Gustav Nordstorem qualified in fifth place while Rune Oedegaard was 11th, both advancing to the Quarterfinals. Arnaud Du Pasquier placed 57th and did not qualify. Oedegaard then struggled in Quarterfinal No. 1, finishing sixth while Nordstroem took third in Quarterfinal No. 3, less than four-tenths of a second out of advancing to the Semifinals and he had the top time in the entire field that didn’t advance, thus his 13th place showing. Oedegaard ended up with a 26th place finish.

On the alpine side, Cameron Smith led the way for the Buffs with a 29th place finish in the Super G race with a time of 1:26.64, a time that was less than a second-and-a-half out of a Top 20 finish. Fletcher McDonald took 37th in a time of 1:27.80 while Kasper Hietanen was 47th in 1:29.72. CU’s top seeded skier in the event, Adam Zika, who was the fifth skier down the hill in bib No. 5, did not finish.

Sunday was another busy day for the Buffs, as Nordstroem and Oedegaard both captured Top 10 finishes in the Mixed Sprint Free races. Oedegaard and country-mate Marte Monrad-Hansen teamed to finish seventh while Nordstroem and fellow Sweden skier Sofie Elebro took ninth place and Hajkova teamed with Adam Fellner to take 20th. The top five teams from each semifinal advanced to the finals. Oedegaard/Monrad-Hansen took second in Semifinal B and then finished seventh in the Final while Nordstroem/Elebro took fifth in Semifinal B and finished ninth.

In Women’s Super G action on Sunday, the Buffs were led by Shane McLean’s 15th place finish in a time of 1:30.81, less than a second out of a Top 10 finish, while Jessica Honkonen took 28th in 1:36.65. Thea Grosvold did not start and CU’s top skier in the event, Brooke Wales, who started in bib No. 2, was disqualified.

Also in action Sunday was CU’s Club Freestyle team, which was selected by the United States Ski and Snowboard Association to represent the United States as a team.

On the women’s side, 10 skiers entered the field with four from CU representing the U.S. Alexis Keeney finished ninth there and Katie Souza 10th for their final ranking while Kelia Zigich took fifth and Jessica Webb seventh to qualify. Zigich took fourth in Semifinal No. 1 and Webb third in Semifinal No. 2 with the top two advancing to the Big Final and the others advancing to the Small Final. Webb took second in the Small Final to finish sixth overall while Zigich was fourth in the Small final to officially finish eighth.

In men’s action in the seeding round, Grayson Tamberi was 23rd, Andre Landau 24th, Benjamin Hitchcock 26th and Jeremy Brown 28th as all qualified. In the 1/8 Finals, Landau took second in Heat No. 2 to advance to the Quarterfinals, where he finished fourth in Quarterfinal No. 1 and officially finish in 16th. Brown took fourth in 1/8 Final Heat No. 3, Tamberi was third and Hitchcock fourth in Heat No. 7 to finish 24th and 26th, respectively, in the 28-skeir field.

Monday is an off-day for all CU skiers competing at the Games. On Tuesday, men’s alpine skiers return to the slopes in Giant Slalom action, an event the women compete in on Wednesday. Tuesday in Nordic action, the women’s 5K and men’s 10K freestyle races will commence.

Thursday and Friday on the alpine side will feature slalom races while Nordic close out the games with relay races on Thursday followed by mass start Classical races on Friday and Saturday. CU’s Club team will conclude action here Wednesday with Slopestyle races.

Serebrakian In Sochi Hunt

Former CU skier and assistant coach Arman Serebrakian is on a Quest for Sochi.  He's attempting to qualify for Armenia and on top of good results, he also needs to raise money and he's more than halfway past his goal of $80,000.  

In Snowbird, Utah, the last few days, he finished second and third in giant slalom races and fifth and sixth in slalom races against some good competition.  He's next  headed to Vail for some NorAm racing.  Follow Arman and help him out at http://armanserebrakian.com.