As a member of the DU ski team, Haugen has
done something few skiers accomplish in their
very first four World Cup starts: four first runs,
four second runs, four in-the-points finishes.
Norges Skiforbund, the Norwegian Ski Federa-
tion, will have a hard time coming up with rea-
sons not to send Haugen to the Olympic Winter
Games. The question, then: Would Haugen be
in the start house for the Pioneers during the
first carnival of the season, January 1 1-12 in Park
City at the Utah Invitational?
“Absolutely,” DU coach Andy LeRoy says. “Leif
has been in Europe for the last couple weeks
training, and he’ll race the World Cup GS at
Adelboden on the 9th, then fly back here in time
to start Park City on the 11th.”
LeRoy also asserts that Haugen is committed
to remaining at DU for all the right reasons.
“It’s obviously a work in progress,” LeRoy says,
“which is why he continues to come back here
to the University of Denver. College, and our
system at Denver, have given him the opportu-
nity to step back from the spotlight of the Nor-
wegian national team and focus on the basics.
Of course, he’d had those fundamentals as a
kid, but after suffering a pretty horrific broken
leg a few years ago, it’s taken him a while to get
some things back. Skiing here has allowed him
to focus less on results and more on becoming a
better skier.”
Though no one could have predicted just how
fast Haugen would come out of the gates this
year, LeRoy says Haugen showed glimpses of his
current form last year despite the fact that he did
not win a single college race. “He won a NorAm
last winter, and he was on the podium in both
slalom and GS at NCAA championships,” LeRoy
says. “But we definitely felt like he was on the
verge of going even faster. He’s just continued
to put in the hard work, continued to focus on
the things he needs to improve, and, obviously,
everything is coming together.”
LeRoy adds that Haugen is very confident. “To
see him carry that confidence into the next level
on the World Cup has been inspiring for me and
for the rest of our team,” says LeRoy. “To be quite
honest, though, he has yet to put two runs to-
gether on the World Cup. It’s hard to put num-
bers on it because you can’t control how other
people are skiing, but I think he’s at the point
where if he skis his best on back-to-back runs,
he’ll post a top- 10 or top-five result.”
New Mexico skiers
impress in early-season NorAms
Throughout December and early January, college racers
prepared for carnival season in regional FIS and NorAm
races. Independent of DU’s Haugen, of course, New Mexico skiers were among the most impressive racers.
“We’ve benefitted from great early-season training,” New
Mexico alpine coach Martin Kroisleitner says. “In early
November, we had some great GS training in Colorado;
and since mid-November, we’ve had fantastic training at
Red River, N.M., where we basically have the place to ourselves.”
Kroisleitner’s team seems to have gotten a jump on not
only NCAA competition, but also the rest of the continent:
First year Lobo Anne Cecelie Brusletto and two-time NCAA
slalom champion Malin Hemmingsson have strung together
a bunch of top- 10 NorAm finishes in recent weeks, including
a 1-2 GS finish in Panorama, British Columbia, on Decem-
ber 15. Brusletto layed down a scorching second run for
overall victory that day and won another GS the following
day to complement solid fourth and 15th-place slalom fin-
ishes at the same venue. Hemmingsson continued her fine
form in the new year with a pair of top-five results at NorAm
slaloms on January 2 and 3 in Val Saint-Come, Quebec.
Kroisleitner is quick to point out that his men are skiing
fast, too.
“You are always writing about how fast our ladies are, but
the men are also very good,” says Kroisleitner, citing Nor-
wegian Lobos Petter Brenna and Chriss Salbu, who finished
second and fifth, respectively, at a NorAm GS in Panorama
on December 13. Brenna also scored two additional top- 10
finishes in four races at Panorama.
“Our skiers who didn’t race NorAms and competed in FIS
races at Winter Park in December are also skiing fast,”
Kroisleitner says. “So we are feeling very strong. Right now
we’re en route to Steamboat for training the first week of
January, then we’ll head to Park City for races right before
the Utah Invitational.”
