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Former AVSC athlete Perkins makes World Pro Ski Tour final as Soevik repeats in Aspen

Kaja Norbye bests sister en route to women's title on Sunday

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Austin Colbert

Norway's Christian Soevik, front, the men's tournament winner, dashes off the podium to avoid being sprayed with Champagne by Crested Butte's Tanner Perkins, back right, Norway's Filip Wahlqvist, center, and Norway's Adrian Hunshammer following Day 2 of World Pro Ski Tour racing on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, from Aspen Mountain.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

The World Pro Ski Tour won’t be the magic ticket that gets Tanner Perkins to the Olympics or the World Cup.

But for the former Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club athlete, racing this past weekend in Aspen and making a surprise podium on Sunday made for a very good time.

“This doesn’t do anything for me. This is just fun. This pays off my credit card debt,” he laughed. “It’s wonderful. I love Aspen and the town of Aspen treated me well (Saturday) night, and I’m not sure how I got so far (Sunday). But it’s like a second home to me, and if it wasn’t for AVSC, there is no way I’d still be ski racing.”

Perkins, who is originally from Crested Butte, finished second on Sunday in the men’s bracket to Norway’s Christian Soevik, who also won Saturday’s race on Aspen Mountain. These were the first races of the 2025 WPST season, which only has two stops this winter.

The unique head-to-head racing format is a little out of the norm for most skiers, compared to the standard race-against-the-clock format found on the World Cup. But it provides another avenue for athletes like Perkins to keep putting on a race bib with actual cash on the line.


“These are just fun, because you can beat anybody, and if you are good at skiing, you can show up and ski here,” he said. “It doesn’t take a lot of training or commitment, and it pays money. It doesn’t pay a lot of money unless you do well, but if you do well, it gets you all right.”

Both the men’s and women’s bracket winners received $7,500, meaning Soevik — who skis for the University of Denver — walks away with $15,000 in earnings from his weekend of skiing in Aspen. Perkins earned a payout of $3,500 for finishing second on Sunday. The third-place payout was $2,500, and fourth place received $1,500.

The 23-year-old Perkins is the definition of a journeyman skier. He moved to Aspen by himself as a teenager to train, and during the COVID-19 pandemic he lived out of a van in order to keep his World Cup dreams alive.

Now racing for Montana State University, he still credits his time with AVSC for keeping him in the fight.

“They kind of took me under their wing and let me ski during COVID. I lived in my van here and they just kind of let me train and it saved my skiing career,” he said. “It feels great. I love to be here.”

Crested Butte’s Tanner Perkins gets air while competing during the second day of the World Pro Ski Tour on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, from the base of Aspen Mountain.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Crested Butte’s Tanner Perkins reaches the end of his run during the second day of the World Pro Ski Tour on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, from the base of Aspen Mountain.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Crested Butte’s Tanner Perkins, center, celebrates with the Champagne on the podium alongside Norway’s Adrian Hunshammer, left, and Utah’s Mia Hunt following the second day of the World Pro Ski Tour on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, from the base of Aspen Mountain.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

Perkins actually beat Soevik in the first of two finals runs, but the Norwegian wasn’t going to be denied in the second, overcoming the time gap to edge Perkins at the finish. Soevik was already a multi-time winner on the WPST before this season.

Finishing third for the men on Sunday was Norway’s Filip Wahlqvist, who beat fellow Norwegian Adrian Hunshammer in the small final. Wahlqvist, who races for the University of Colorado, was also third on Saturday, beating Glenwood Springs product Cooper Cornelius in the small final that day. Cornelius lost to Hunshammer, a fellow DU skier, in the first round on Sunday.

Wahlqvist had beaten Perkins in the Colorado Pro Open by Mazda quarterfinals on Saturday, only to have Perkins return the favor in the Aspen Pro Open by Celsius semifinals on Sunday.

Saturday’s runner-up finisher, the Czech Republic’s Filip Forejtek, was ousted by Perkins in the quarterfinals on Sunday.

“I was just kind of going through the motions. Two of my partners I was racing against crashed, so it allowed me to relax through the first two heats,” Perkins said of Sunday’s races. “Then I had to race Filip (Forejtek), and I know he’s fast, so I just had to take my mind and click it in a little bit. Skied well with Filip and he had some mistakes, so I capitalized on that. And by the time I got to the other Filip — Wahlqvist; he beat me yesterday — and I just knew I needed to really work the skis in the flats and generate that speed.”

Norway’s Christian Soevik, via the University of Denver, competes during the second day of the World Pro Ski Tour on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, from the base of Aspen Mountain.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Norway’s Christian Soevik, center, the men’s winner, is interviewed while standing next to Norway’s Kaja Norbye, right, the women’s winner, during the second day of the World Pro Ski Tour on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, from the base of Aspen Mountain.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

Perkins said he can see himself returning to compete in more WPST races in the future — his previous best finish had been fourth in 2022 at Steamboat Springs — but was heading back to Bozeman as of Sunday night looking to return to the college circuit with MSU, with hopes of jumping into a few NorAm speed races along the way.

How he does in the coming months will likely determine the longevity of his skiing career.

“If I win NorAms, then I get a spot to race World Cups,” Perkins said. “That’s kind of my goal, but if it doesn’t happen this year or next year, I’ll probably be done. I’m not going to keep pursuing skiing outside of college. I’ll go get a job.”

Norbye beats own sister in women’s bracket

The women’s final on Sunday was won by Norway’s Kaja Norbye, who skis for the University of Utah. She bested Mia Hunt, a Park City native and current University of Denver skier, in the two-run finale.

This was Hunt’s WPST debut, while this was Norbye’s first WPST win.

“They are a little tired, but I’m ready when I’m in the start gate, so that’s all that matters,” Hunt said of her sore legs. She only raced once on Saturday, losing in the first round to Italy’s Giulia Tintorri, who eventually finished fourth. “It’s super fun. Yesterday I only took two runs, and today I’ve taken a lot.”

Norway’s Kaja Norbye, the women’s tournament winner, is interviewed after the second day of racing at the World Pro Ski Tour stop on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, from the base of Aspen Mountain.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Utah’s Mia Hunt competes during the second day of the World Pro Ski Tour on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, from the base of Aspen Mountain.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

Hunt got her revenge on Sunday, this time beating Tintorri in the first round.

For Norbye, the big win that got her to the finish actually came in the semifinals, when she beat her younger sister, Tuva Norbye, in comeback fashion. Tuva, who lives and coaches locally here in the Roaring Fork Valley, ultimately finished third for the second straight day, beating Sweden’s Evelina Fredricsson in the small final.

Both Norbye sisters admitted before their semifinal race that trash talking was definitely on the table.

“I wouldn’t say neither of us punched each other. It’s more the mental games, saying mean things. When we were young, none of us were shy of saying mean things to each other,” Kaja said with a smile while standing next to her sister between races. “It’s never fun to knock your sister out, but I’m glad she’ll at least get to do the small final and I will root for her for third place, for sure.”

Sweden’s Sara Rask, who won the women’s bracket on Saturday, was upset by Fredricsson in the second round on Sunday. Saturday’s runner-up finisher, Canada’s Erin Mielzynski, lost to Kaja Norbye in the quarterfinals on Sunday.

On to the next

The WPST, which only returned in 2017 after more than two decades of dormancy, is sticking to only two events this winter as a form of rebuilding. After Aspen, the only other stop will be March 13-16 at Tenney Mountain Resort, located just a few hours from Boston.

World Pro Ski Tour Chairman Christopher Neary says a few words during the podium ceremony on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, after Day 2 of racing on Aspen Mountain.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

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But new chairman Christopher Neary said there are plans in motion for as many as 10 races per season going forward, with hopes of getting the tour back to the level it was in the 1970s and ’80s, when it rivaled the World Cup to a certain degree.

The history of the WPST goes back to 1969, when Aspen’s own Bob Beattie helped found World Pro Skiing, which saw legendary skiers such as Billy Kidd, Spider Sabich, and Jean-Claude Killy compete in races. Many of those races took place in Aspen.

Neary did say on Saturday that he hopes to have Aspen as a regular stop, if not the season opener, each year. His team was sticking around on Monday to meet with Aspen Skiing Company officials to lock in dates for next winter.

“We are really happy to have everybody here,” Neary said Sunday during the awards ceremony from the base of Aspen Mountain. “This tour has been wonderful, and we really appreciate Aspen having us.”

acolbert@aspentimes.com

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