BOULDER—Colorado's Filip Forejtek and Westminster's Francesco Gori were honored with MVP awards by the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association for the 2021 season Thursday.
The awards are given to the skiers who accumulate the most NCAA Qualification points in each discipline during the regular season, which consisted of four meets in 2021.
Forejtek was named the Men's Giant Slalom MVP in a nail-biting race as he edged out Westminster's Mikkel Solbakken by just one point, 134-133. Forejek had one runner-up finish, two third place showings and one fifth place in the four races throughout the season. Solbakken had one second, one third and two fourth place finishes. Utah's Gustav Vollo was third with 117 points, and a pair of Montana State skiers rounded out the top five with Louis Muhlen-Schulte in fourth and Age Solheim in fifth.
Gori earned the Men's Slalom MVP honor in another race that was closer than it looked. He had 133 points based off his finished of one second, two thirds and two fourths. He edged out Utah's Bjorn Brudevoll, who picked up three wins and was disqualified in his fourth race, by 13 points with Brudevoll earning 120. Every race counts, and it was evident as Brudevoll's teammate Wilhelm Normannseth finished third with 108 points (two seconds, one third) and Forejtek took fourth with a win, one third and one fourth place finish for 105 points. Westminster's Mikkel Solbakken was fifth with a second, two fifths and a 22nd place after having to hike in the final race of the regular season. In the end, Gori's top finishes consistently ruled out and gave him the award.
This is the first time the award has been broken out by discipline, normally just going to the overall alpine MVP. Gori is the first Westminster skier to earn MVP honors along with Julia Toiviainen on the women's side, and Forejtek is the first CU skier to win since Ola Johansen in 2018.