Tor Hanson '23 is in his third season as the head coach of the St. Olaf men's and women's Nordic skiing programs in 2026-27. After spending the 2023-24 season as an assistant coach for the programs, he was promoted to head coach in August 2024.
Hanson has led the St. Olaf women's program to U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) team titles in each of his two seasons to extend the team's streak to five consecutive USCSA national titles in a row. The men's program has finished tied for third (2024-25) and second (2025-26) at the USCSA National Championships in his two seasons.
In 2025-26, the St. Olaf women won all four team events to claim a fifth USCSA team title in a row, while the men won the Team Sprint Relay and finished in the top four in each of the other three events to finish as the runner-up.
Through two seasons, Hanson has coached student-athletes to a total of 52 USCSA All-America accolades (37 women, 15 men), including four individual USCSA national champions. Lily Hubanks '25 won national titles in the 15K Classic and 7.5K Freestyle in 2024-25, Amae Kam-Magruder '27 won the Classic Sprint in 2024-25, and Lily Ward '27 won the Freestyle Sprint in 2025-26.
Under Hanson's leadership, St. Olaf has produced seven College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District honorees, one CSC Academic All-American, and 20 USCSA Scholar All-Americans over the last two seasons.
As an assistant coach in 2023-24, Hanson assisted Kevin Brochman in leading the St. Olaf women to their third consecutive USCSA national championship, while also working with the men’s team that placed fifth. The two teams combined to produce 15 All-America performances at the USCSA National Championships, including individual national titles for Hubanks in the 7.5K Freestyle and Kam-Magruder in the 15K Classic.
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During his time as a student-athlete at St. Olaf, Hanson helped the Ole men to top-six finishes at the USCSA National Championships in both 2021-22 and 2022-23. As a senior, he finished in a tie for 39th in the individual combined standings and matched his career-best finish by placing 38th in the Freestyle Sprint. Hanson earned USCSA Second Team Scholar All-American honors in each of his final two seasons after being named to the USCSA National Collegiate All-Academic Ski Team in 2020-21.
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A U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) certified Level 100 coach, Hanson graduated from St. Olaf in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in biology. He has also served as a performance coach for Minneapolis Ski Club since June 2020, working with over 30 high school athletes to supplement their winter training with summer roller ski practice five days a week.
