Cochran takes final NorAm slalom; season title goes to Stutz

By Published On: March 19th, 2006Comments Off on Cochran takes final NorAm slalom; season title goes to Stutz

Cochran takes final NorAm slalom; season title goes to Stutz{mosimage}PANORAMA, B.C. The final CIBC Coupe NorAm slalom of the year belonged to Jimmy Cochran, but it was Canada’s Paul Stutz who left B.C. with the season title.

Stutz has been a remarkably consistent force on the NorAm slalom circuit all season, finishing five of six races, four of those in the top six. The fifth was a 14th in a field stacked with World Cuppers in Keystone, Colorado, in November.

Stutz raced to second place March 16, taking the slalom standings lead by 15 points over U.S. Ski Teamer Roger Brown. The March 17 race had all the makings of a dramatic duel for the title, but Brown wasn’t on top of his game, finishing 20th. Stutz protected his lead with a solid fourth-place finish, and Brown had to settle for second in the 2006 season slalom standings.

This Saint Patrick’s Day slalom featured two particularly stellar runs by two different athletes. Switzerland’s Marc Gini, winner a day earlier, put together a scorching fast effort in the morning, establishing a commanding half-second lead over Cochran, who was just five-hundredths ahead of Canadian Patrick Biggs. Gini looked unbeatable going into the afternoon.

The second run featured big, swinging turns on an otherwise easy hill, and several of the field’s top athletes didn’t survive — Gini was among them. Gini’s crash opened the door for Cochran, and he attacked the course unlike any other racer in the field, winning the run by more than half a second and the race by seven-tenths.

“That was a worker of a course,” Cochran said of the second run, adding that his minimum-penalty six-points race result will put him in position to start earlier on next year’s World Cup.

Men’s slalom
CIBC Coupe NorAm
Panorama, British Columbia
March 16, 2006

1. James Cochran USA 1:52.77
2. Patrick Biggs CAN 1:53.47
3. Tom Rothrock USA 1:54.12
4. Paul Stutz CAN 1:54.17
5. Silvan Zurbriggen SUI 1:54.36
6. Kilian Albrecht AUT 1:54.48
7. Scott Barrett CAN 1:54.61
8. Tim Kelley USA 1:54.64
9. Julien Cousineau CAN 1:54.68
10. Drew Roberts USA 1:54.84

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About the Author: Pete Rugh