STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo.—Mads Stroem representing the University of Colorado won his second individual national championship title this week after his performance in the men’s 20K classical. Stroem clocked a time of 49:41.9 to earn his third overall national championship.
“I am really happy with the 10K on Thursday. For me, individual starts are the real skiing,” Stroem said. “That was my biggest goal. This (win) is close behind. Winning at home and on the home turf was pretty cool.”
Stroem’s performance helped propel Colorado into the second place spot for the 2016 NCAA National Championships, and teammate Petter Reistad also added some points with his ninth place finish and assisted Stroem in the race.
“I kind of had to switch it up a bit because Petter chose the double pole so he didn’t use any kicks so he had to go hard from the start and just try to ski away from people,” Stroem said. “That really helped me out because other teams had to chase him and I could slip in behind and just ski with them until they eventually caught him. I could just stay in a pack and just save as much energy as possible.
Stroem now has eight first place finishes for this season and swept the first place titles in his two races this week.
“Five wins might be possible next year,” he said. “I just have to do what I did this year. Right now I am just so happy to win both races here. It has been the goal for ten months.”