Erica Lavén Won an NCAA Title in Her First NCAA Championships Race. Utah's Swedish Skier Has Helped Win Two Team Titles

Erica Lavén, a Nordic skier from Täby, Sweden, won the women's 7.5K classic at the 2025 NCAA Skiing Championships on March 6, 2025, at Oak Hill in Hanover, New Hampshire, in 23:43.3, the University of Utah reported. It was her first NCAA Championships start, and she won by 11.1 seconds over Vermont's Annie McColgan.

Utah called it the 87th individual championship won by a Utah skier in the program's recorded history and the 35th on the women's side.

"I felt like I opened at my own pace and didn't want to open too hard," she said afterward.

Sweden to Salt Lake City

Utah's roster lists Lavén's hometown as Täby, Sweden, and her previous club as Aasarna IK. Before Utah she represented Sweden at three straight Junior World Ski Championships, from 2022 to 2024, with five of her six starts in the top 20, including sixth in the freestyle sprint in 2024, her biography says. It credits her with 33 FIS podiums over three seasons and a freestyle sprint title at the 2024 Swedish National Junior Championships.

"I chose Utah because I see the chance to train in a different and good training environment," she says in her Utah biography. She studies business administration.

A freshman season of podiums

She arrived fast. Before her first college race she won three SuperTour races in Cable, Wisconsin, in December 2024, Utah reported, and FIS results show a classic sprint, a 10K freestyle and a 20K classic mass start. Her first college win came in the 7.5K classic at the Utah Invitational at Soldier Hollow on Jan. 18, 2025, by more than 17 seconds, and the next day she won the 15K freestyle mass start by 19.2 seconds after what director of skiing Fredrik Landstedt called "a hard crash on the first lap."

"I think the key for me was that I was trusting the process from start to finish," she said.

She won both races at the Montana State Invitational a week later, the second by more than 38 seconds. "Erica again showed her dominance, and right now nobody can stay close," Landstedt said. At the RMISA Championships she won the 20K freestyle by four-tenths of a second, outsprinting Alaska Fairbanks' Kendall Kramer, Utah reported.

Lavén started 13 college races as a freshman, finished on the podium in all of them and won eight, Utah's biography says. She was named the RMISA most valuable skier in both classic and freestyle and won the 20K freestyle at the RMISA Championships, which serve as the NCAA West Regional.

Two days after her NCAA title, she was second in the 20K freestyle in 50:50.0, behind Alaska Fairbanks' Kendall Kramer, as Utah won the team title with 590 points, ahead of Colorado and Dartmouth, Utah reported. It was the program's 17th national title. She was named a first-team All-American in both races and Utah's Nordic MVP, and she made the Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team, her biography says.

Back-to-back

The sophomore season opened with a college win in the 10K classic at the U.S. Championships at Mount Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid on Jan. 4, 2026, where she was second in the overall race, Utah reported. At the Colorado Invitational in Steamboat Springs on Feb. 13 she won the 20K freestyle by more than 90 seconds. "Erica was in a class of her own today, skiing away from the field and getting alone after about 1K," Landstedt said. Two weeks later, at the RMISA Championships at Soldier Hollow, she won the 7.5K classic by 47 seconds for her second regional title.

As a sophomore in 2026 she won seven of her 10 college starts and finished on the podium in nine, her biography says. She won the 7.5K classic at the RMISA Championships, swept both disciplines at the Utah and Colorado invitationals, won the Utah Invitational 15K classic by 54 seconds and was again named RMISA MVP in classic, Utah reported.

The NCAA Championships moved to Soldier Hollow in Midway in mid-February because of a lack of snow at Montana State, Utah reported. On home snow, Lavén took silver in the 7.5K classic in 25:11.0, behind Alaska Fairbanks' Rosie Fordham, and bronze in the 20K freestyle in 52:22.7, and Utah won its 18th national title, 549.5 points to Colorado's 539, its second straight.

"I feel like we've been working hard to come to this point, and I feel like everybody is happy for it," she said after the title.

She was a first-team All-American in both events again, Utah's biography says, her fourth first-team honor in two seasons.

The 2026-27 season

Lavén is a junior on Utah's 2026-27 roster. The RMISA's 2027 schedule opens the Nordic season at the Birkie Trails in Cable, Wisconsin, in early January, during the U.S. Cross Country National Championships, and the RMISA Championships, the NCAA West Regional, are in Anchorage and Girdwood, Alaska, on Feb. 24-27, 2027. The NCAA Championships return to Vermont on March 10-13, 2027, with Nordic races at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, a 7.5K freestyle, a new classic sprint and a 20K classic mass start, Utah reported. Utah is scheduled to host the NCAA meet again in 2028.

She is one of the athletes on Utah's two-time defending national champion ski team.

Key facts:

• Athlete: Erica Lavén, Nordic skiing, University of Utah (junior)
• Hometown: Täby, Sweden
• NCAA title: 7.5K classic, March 6, 2025, 23:43.3, in her first NCAA Championships start
• NCAA medals: gold and silver in 2025; silver and bronze in 2026
• Team titles: Utah's 2025 and 2026 NCAA championships
• Honors: four first-team All-America selections; RMISA MVP in 2025 and 2026
• Next: 2027 NCAA Championships, Vermont, March 10-13, 2027