Norwegian skier with Vail connection plans to race for U.S. next year

When NCAA skiers make their annual trip to Maloit Park for the DU Invite, most mention the difficulties of racing at 9,000 feet.

Not Selma Nevin.

“I’m used to this altitude actually,” the 20-year-old University of Utah freshman said after finishing fourth in the 10-kilometer freestyle pursuit on Sunday in Minturn. Nevin — who grew up in Oslo, Norway — has been coming to the Vail valley since she was a young kid. Her grandparents have a home in Edwards and the family flies across the Atlantic every July to satisfy her parents’ cycling fix.

“They call it their altitude camp,” Nevin said.

Nevin opened the weekend with a seventh-place finish in Saturday’s 7.5-kilometer individual start classic race. While groomers slammed the overnight snowfall firmly into the 2.5k loop, ski selection wasn’t cut and dry with rising temps and saturated flakes. Some athletes used hard wax, others opted for klister or zeros and the top male and female finishers eschewed grip altogether.

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“It was a really fun course to try and double-pole,” said Swedish star Erica Laven, who won Saturday’s race by 23 seconds. Laven made international headlines when she decided to embark on a four-year NCAA career at Utah instead of going directly into the Swedish national system.

“I’m really happy I came to be a part of a team, which is so much more fun,” the top-ranked junior said. “Of course I can’t compete and qualify for stuff at home, which is sad because I really wanted to, but I also feel like I’m going to be young when I come back after four years here.”

Laven said she felt less than 100% Saturday night and decided to hold out of Sunday’s race, where athletes bolted off the start line in waves determined by their finishing times from the previous competition. CU Buff Tilde Baangman went out first. DU graduate student Lea Wenaas — also a Norwegian athlete — was third, with 32-seconds to make up.

“I had kind of given up on the first girl,” Wenaas admitted. “I was like, ‘OK it’s between me and the girl I was skiing with.’ But then, last lap up the first steep climb, I went for it.”

With 2 kilometers to go, Wenaas surged past Astri Lunde and moved up to Baangman. She simultaneously felt good and noticed the leader suffering.

“It was just a lot of good things falling together at the same time,” Wenaas said after her 13-second win. After accruing two individual podiums throughout her four-year career at the University of New Hampshire, the transfer climbed to the top step of an NCAA podium for the first time on Sunday.

“The season started a little hard in Alaska,” she said. “But since there it’s only been going up.” 

Colorado scored 279 points to claim the women’s Nordic team title over DU (249) as Utah (218), Montana State University (185), University of Alaska Fairbanks (120) and Wyoming (97) rounded out the collegiate scoring. The Bobcats and Nanooks were without their top skiers, all of whom have received recent World Cup and U23 or Junior World Championship starts.

Aspen Valley Ski Club alumna Kate Oldham — who won a U.S. senior national title in January — was 16th in the 10-kilometer freestyle at the Cogne World Cup on Feb. 2. She also claimed two top-10s at U23 worlds in Schilpario, Italy last weekend and was named to the U.S. team for the senior world championships later this month. Montana State head coach Adam St. Pierre said he’s hopeful that Oldham will contest either the sprint or skiathlon in Trondheim before flying back to New Hampshire for the NCAA championships in March. Pierre believes Oldham’s rapid rise has elevated the entire Bobcat squad.

“I think they’ve been racing with more confidence since they’ve seen, ‘wow, I’m close to Kate in intervals and Kate just won the natty!'” he said. “We’ve got a couple girls ill and nursing injuries so we’re not full depth here, but I think we’ll have three potential All-Americans at NCAAs.”

St. Pierre said Oldham benefited from training and racing with Baangman — perhaps the strongest skier in the RMISA — last year before the Swede transferred to Colorado.

“I think having her and Kate pushing together really helped Kate improve (and) make some breakthroughs last year,” he said.

The Nanooks were without the services of Australian Rosie Fordham and Fairbanks-native Kendall Kramer, who were second and fourth, respectively, in the 10-kilometer freestyle at U23s on Saturday in Italy.

“They’re extremely fit and it showed yesterday,” commented coach Eliska Albrigtsen, who admitted her team at Maloit Park was “a bit of a torso” without its top two athletes.

“It was just (about) coming here, have fun, get another race under our belt, gain some experience,” she said. “Get some sunshine.” 

While an international influx of talent isn’t new to NCAA skiing, Nevin represents a new wave of Scandinavians seeking to come to America right out of high school. To them, the college circuit seems to be less of a last hurrah in lieu of anonymous status in the hyper-competitive Norwegian Cup. Rather, Europeans are viewing the American collegiate system as possessing the perfect progression.

“They really like how the Americans do it: going straight from high school to college, continuing to develop while you’re in college and then once you’ve graduated, focusing on being a professional skier,” University of Utah sophomore and Leadville local Nina Schamberger said earlier this winter. Schamberger didn’t compete in her backyard last weekend as she was racing junior worlds in Italy, but the former Summit Nordic skier is one of two Americans on a team filled with Norwegians, Swedes and Germans. 

“It’s been the best year skiing because it’s so diverse,” said her German teammate Celine Mayer, who finished sixth on Sunday. “Everyone brings something else.”

When asked what her ethnic contribution was, Mayer joked, “Oh … the fun of course.” Laven said she brings traditional Swedish cinnamon buns to the table. For Nevin, the Norwegian label might not be around forever.

“I’m actually dual citizen, so I’m actually thinking of switching my FIS license for next year for the U.S. and maybe qualifying for some international races for the U.S. would be cool,” she said. “I’m Norwegian for this season and then for next — you heard it here first — I’ll be American.”

Nevin’s first year racing in the U.S. has gone well. She posted a pair of top-10 finishes at the Super Tour season opener in Cable and was 9th at U.S. Nationals in the 20k classic mass start. At the Crosscut Mountain Super Tour, she was just off the podium in fourth in the 20k skate mass start. In all of those races, she’s been right with — and sometimes even ahead — of North American athletes with either World Cup or Junior Worlds starts on the resume. A quick FIS page deep dive reveals Nevin’s numerous top-10 Norwegian Junior finishes as well.

This season, Nevin’s goal is just to qualify and race well at NCAAs. As for the 2026 Olympic year?

“Well, maybe that’s coming up too early,” said Nevin, who plans to spend spring and summer in Vail before returning to Salt Lake next fall.

“But I’m planning on doing some good training,” she concluded. “And I think I’ll ski fast.”