Tommy Ford takes U.S. National slalom title, Cochran to retire
Tommy Ford earned the seventh U.S. national title of his career today (March 29) by the narrowest of margins at Winter Park, Colo. in the men’s slalom.
Ford stood third after the first run in sunny Winter Park, 0.61 seconds behind first run leader Jimmy Cochran. The lead changed hands four times in a row as consecutive racers crossed the line before it settled in Ford’s lap as he took just a one-hundredth of a second advantage over Norwegian Leif Haugen in second place. U.S. Ski Team C-Team member Michael Ankeny was another two-tenths of a second back in third place.
“I’ve been training some slalom up in Quebec when we had some spring break time and it’s been getting better and better,” said Ford, who pulled in his second National slalom title. “I added some old-school turns the second run but skied well on the bottom. It’s always fun to win, I skied well and it was fun to ski well and good slalom.”
Ankeny was happy to have finally reached the podium after just missing it in fourth place in last season’s national slalom race.
“It’s really exciting, the guys that beat me I am good friends with, I was just surprised it was so close because the conditions were so variable,” said Ankeny, who enjoyed the atmosphere of the national championships in warm, spring conditions. “It’s kind of cool. You can put what’s happened behind you, you come here ski well and its just really fun when the whole ski team can come together and race at one place.”
Jimmy Cochran, who announced this week that he will retire after nine years on the U.S. Ski Team, held the lead after the first run but hooked a gate at the top of the second-run course.
“I’d like to do that one again but that’s ski racing,” said Cochran. “As for my career I had a great time, really fortunate, I feel like I have been living a charmed life the past eight years I’ve been doing this. I met a lot of great people, traveled to a lot of great places, this isn’t a bad place to end it here, nice day, nice people nice hill, I think I did my first race as a ski team member on that hill right over there so It’s a good place to do the last one too, full circle.”
Robert Cone (Killington, VT) lead all junior racers in ninth place overall. Ryan Cochran-Siegle (Starksboro, VT/Cochran’s/Mt. Mansfield Ski and Snowboard Club), who earned two gold medals (downhill and combined) earlier this month at the Junior World Championships, finished second amongst the juniors and tenth overall. Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, CA/Squaw Valley Ski Team) took the junior bronze in 12th overall.
“It feels great, I was excited after the first run, great bib draw, pretty solid run up top and kept it going fast down bottom and that put me in a good position for second run where it was still relatively smooth,” said Cone. “I just had to put my foot in [the rut] and try to make some good turns all the way to the bottom. I got a little behind it before the finish but it was a good run and it put me in there.”
Ski Club Vail J-2 racer Alex Leever was another junior standout with the fastest second run of the day in the No. 75 bib. He finished 21st.
The 2012 U.S. Alpine National Championships will continue Friday with the men’s and women’s super G races.
Rank | Bib | Name | Team | Club | Class | Result 1 | Result 2 | Combined |
1 | 15 |
FORD, Tommy
|
USA
|
89
|
SR
|
46.53 (3)
|
45.67 (7)
|
1:32.20
|
2 | 7 |
HAUGEN, Leif Kristian
|
NOR
|
87
|
SR
|
46.14 (2)
|
46.07 (19)
|
1:32.21
|
3 | 1 |
ANKENY, Michael
|
USA
|
91
|
SR
|
46.63 (4)
|
45.81 (11)
|
1:32.44
|
4 | 5 |
BRANDENBURG, Will
|
USA
|
87
|
SR
|
46.86 (5)
|
45.91 (15)
|
1:32.77
|
5 | 19 |
KELLEY, Robby
|
USA
|
90
|
SR
|
47.06 (6)
|
45.95 (17)
|
1:33.01
|
6 | 18 |
ADDE, Andreas
|
NOR
|
88
|
SR
|
47.82 (10)
|
46.00 (18)
|
1:33.82
|
7 | 20 |
ACOSTA, Christopher
|
USA
|
90
|
SR
|
48.04 (11)
|
45.87 (13)
|
1:33.91
|
8 | 12 |
LYSDAHL, Espen
|
NOR
|
90
|
SR
|
47.57 (8)
|
46.57 (23)
|
1:34.14
|
9 | 9 |
CONE, Robert
|
USA
|
92
|
J-1
|
47.52 (7)
|
46.63 (24)
|
1:34.15
|
10 | 21 |
COCHRAN-SIEGLE, Ryan
|
USA
|
92
|
J-1
|
49.14 (16)
|
45.08 (2)
|
1:34.22
|
11 | 28 |
ZIKA, Adam
|
CZE
|
89
|
SR
|
48.67 (14)
|
45.69 (9)
|
1:34.36
|
12 | 36 |
BENNETT, Bryce
|
USA
|
92
|
J-1
|
49.21 (17)
|
45.54 (5)
|
1:34.75
|
13 | 29 |
MARSHALL, Tucker
|
USA
|
90
|
SR
|
49.43 (18)
|
45.47 (4)
|
1:34.90
|
14 | 22 |
GOLDBERG, Jared
|
USA
|
91
|
SR
|
48.82 (15)
|
46.30 (21)
|
1:35.12
|
15 | 37 |
CHRISTIANSON, Kieffer
|
USA
|
92
|
J-1
|
49.63 (20)
|
45.67 (7)
|
1:35.30
|
16 | 31 |
REYNOLDS, Charlie
|
USA
|
89
|
SR
|
48.53 (13)
|
46.84 (25)
|
1:35.37
|
17 | 33 |
SHIFFRIN, Taylor
|
USA
|
92
|
J-1
|
48.35 (12)
|
47.18 (26)
|
1:35.53
|
18 | 60 |
BIESEMEYER, Thomas
|
USA
|
89
|
SR
|
50.31 (23)
|
45.86 (12)
|
1:36.17
|
19 | 45 |
SNOW, Scott
|
USA
|
93
|
J-1
|
51.01 (25)
|
45.20 (3)
|
1:36.21
|
20 | 67 |
O BRIEN, Cannon
|
USA
|
92
|
J-1
|
50.20 (22)
|
46.28 (20)
|
1:36.48
|
21 | 75 |
LEEVER, Alex
|
USA
|
95
|
J-2
|
51.59 (28)
|
44.90 (1)
|
1:36.49
|
22 | 51 |
SPROCK, Ty
|
USA
|
95
|
J-2
|
51.10 (26)
|
45.61 (6)
|
1:36.71
|
23 | 58 |
SMITH, Cameron
|
USA
|
92
|
J-1
|
50.84 (24)
|
45.90 (14)
|
1:36.74
|
24 | 54 |
WRIGHT, Cole
|
USA
|
91
|
SR
|
51.35 (27)
|
45.94 (16)
|
1:37.29
|
25 | 42 |
HORNER, Sean
|
USA
|
91
|
SR
|
51.60 (29)
|
45.75 (10)
|
1:37.35
|
26 | 43 |
KRAUSE, Nicholas
|
USA
|
93
|
J-1
|
51.63 (30)
|
46.41 (22)
|
1:38.04
|
27 | 49 |
MCDONALD, Conor
|
USA
|
93
|
J-1
|
52.07 (36)
|
47.74 (27)
|
1:39.81
|
28 | 47 |
BARWOOD, Adam
|
NZL
|
92
|
J-1
|
51.87 (32)
|
48.00 (29)
|
1:39.87
|
29 | 48 |
FARROW, Tanner
|
USA
|
93
|
J-1
|
51.95 (35)
|
48.06 (30)
|
1:40.01
|
30 | 66 |
NIEDERHAUSER, Christoph
|
USA
|
93
|
J-1
|
52.29 (39)
|
47.77 (28)
|
1:40.06
|
31 | 77 |
ARVIDSSON, Erik
|
USA
|
96
|
J-2
|
51.91 (34)
|
48.45 (33)
|
1:40.36
|
32 | 44 |
MILLER, Mark
|
USA
< /td> |
90
|
SR
|
52.27 (38)
|
48.34 (31)
|
1:40.61
|
33 | 71 |
HALL, Max
|
USA
|
95
|
J-2
|
52.51 (40)
|
48.66 (34)
|
1:41.17
|
34 | 79 |
MCCORMICK, Sean
|
USA
|
93
|
J-1
|
51.89 (33)
|
49.95 (40)
|
1:41.84
|
35 | 69 |
THEIS, Tyler
|
USA
|
94
|
J-1
|
52.15 (37)
|
50.57 (45)
|
1:42.72
|
36 | 65 |
SHINOHARA, Yuuma
|
JPN
|
92
|
J-1
|
53.58 (43)
|
49.39 (37)
|
1:42.97
|
37 | 82 |
BOARDMAN, Michael
|
USA
|
94
|
J-1
|
53.03 (42)
|
50.14 (41)
|
1:43.17
|
38 | 41 |
FLOWERS, Kitt
|
USA
|
91
|
SR
|
54.96 (50)
|
48.42 (32)
|
1:43.38
|
39 | 55 |
COLLINS, Harlan
|
USA
|
93
|
J-1
|
54.27 (46)
|
49.33 (36)
|
1:43.60
|
40 | 63 |
STENICKA, Nicholas
|
USA
|
91
|
SR
|
54.55 (48)
|
49.48 (38)
|
1:44.03
|
41 | 61 |
LUND, Max
|
USA
|
90
|
SR
|
54.60 (49)
|
49.93 (39)
|
1:44.53
|
42 | 91 |
JONES, Alec
|
USA
|
94
|
J-1
|
53.79 (44)
|
50.84 (46)
|
1:44.63
|
43 | 85 |
HARTMANN, Kevin
|
USA
|
93
|
J-1
|
54.43 (47)
|
50.30 (44)
|
1:44.73
|
44 | 78 |
COOPER, Scott
|
USA
|
93
|
J-1
|
55.45 (52)
|
50.27 (43)
|
1:45.72
|
45 | 70 |
DUPRATT, Samuel
|
USA
|
93
|
J-1
|
51.70 (31)
|
54.53 (50)
|
1:46.23
|
46 | 76 |
WATANABE, Takehiro
|
JPN
|
93
|
J-1
|
56.40 (54)
|
50.15 (42)
|
1:46.55
|
47 | 52 |
BROOKS, Dylan
|
USA
|
92
|
J-1
|
57.53 (59)
|
49.03 (35)
|
1:46.56
|
48 | 86 |
MOONEY, Ryan
|
USA
|
96
|
J-2
|
55.86 (53)
|
51.02 (48)
|
1:46.88
|
49 | 88 |
ALBERTSON, Peter
|
USA
|
92
|
J-1
|
57.06 (58)
|
53.34 (49)
|
1:50.40
|
50 | 92 |
BRAUN, Nick
|
USA
|
94
|
J-1
|
1:00.76 (60)
|
50.88 (47)
|
1:51.64
|
51 | 53 |
STANG, Nick
|
USA
|
90
|
SR
|
52.69 (41)
|
1:05.35 (52)
|
1:58.04
|
52 | 90 |
UNICUME, Cody
|
USA
|
91
|
SR
|
1:02.09 (61)
|
1:03.19 (51)
|
2:05.28
|
3 |
COCHRAN, Jimmy
|
USA
|
81
|
SR
|
45.92 (1)
|
DNF
|
|
|
13 |
LAIDLAW, Luke
|
AUS
|
92
|
J-1
|
47.71 (9)
|
DNF
|
|
|
17 |
WILSON, Ryan
|
USA
|
87
|
SR
|
49.55 (19)
|
DNF
|
|
|
25 |
SPENST, Taggart
|
USA
|
88
|
SR
|
49.91 (21)
|
DNF
|
|
|
38 |
BANSMER, Michael
|
USA
|
89
|
SR
|
54.21 (45)
|
DNF
|
|
|
16 |
JITLOFF, Tim
|
USA
|
85
|
SR
|
55.05 (51)
|
DNS
|
|
|
62 |
FARRELL, Brad
|
USA
|
92
|
J-1
|
56.59 (55)
|
DNF
|
|
|
97 |
MACKIE, Logan Rip
|
USA
|
94
|
J-1
|
56.72 (56)
|
DNF
|
|
|
39 |
KOLLENBORG, Christopher
|
NOR
|
88
|
SR
|
57.05 (57)
|
DNS
|
|
|
94 |
KAMPHUIS, Colin
|
USA
|
93
|
J-1
|
1:07.20 (62)
|
DQg55
|
1:07.20
|
|
96 |
BERLACK, Ronald
|
USA
|
94
|
J-1
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
95 |
MCLAUGHLIN, Brian
|
USA
|
93
|
J-1
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
93 |
FRANCIS, Brian
|
USA
|
95
|
J-2
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
89 |
KIRCHER, Andrew
|
USA
|
93
|
J-1
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
87 |
NOGES, Carl
|
USA
|
91
|
SR
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
84 |
VETH, Nicolas
|
USA
|
95
|
J-2
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
83 |
MARTENS, Peter
|
USA
|
95
|
J-2
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
81 |
OGLE, Jay
|
USA
|
91
|
SR
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
80 |
HAUGEN, Per Torstein
|
NOR
|
94
|
J-1
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
74 |
MCKENNA, Christopher
|
USA
|
93
|
J-1
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
73 |
WILSON, Kenny
|
USA
|
94
|
J-1
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
72 |
ROBLES, Thomas
|
USA
|
94
|
J-1
|
DNF <
/div> |
DNS
|
|
|
68 |
WRIGHT, Bronson
|
USA
|
93
|
J-1
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
64 |
NEESON, Finlay
|
NZL
|
93
|
J-1
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
59 |
HARRIS, Reilly
|
USA
|
90
|
SR
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
56 |
RYAN, Chase
|
USA
|
92
|
J-1
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
50 |
MOTTAU, Tanner
|
USA
|
93
|
J-1
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
46 |
STRAND, Derek
|
USA
|
91
|
SR
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
40 |
MIYAMA, Fumiaki
|
JPN
|
88
|
SR
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
35 |
HARMANEN, Niko
|
FIN
|
88
|
SR
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
34 |
MARNO, Max
|
USA
|
91
|
SR
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
32 |
RUBIE, Brennan
|
USA
|
91
|
SR
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
30 |
HRIBAR, Timotej
|
SLO
|
90
|
SR
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
27 |
TARBERRY, Ace
|
USA
|
88
|
SR
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
26 |
MORSE, Ben
|
USA
|
92
|
J-1
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
23 |
COHEE, Nick
|
USA
|
88
|
SR
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
14 |
STRAND, Matthew
|
USA
|
93
|
J-1
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
11 |
HAUG, Andreas Willumsen
|
NOR
|
89
|
SR
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
10 |
STIEGLER, Seppi
|
USA
|
88
|
SR
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
6 |
BRENNA, Petter
|
NOR
|
86
|
SR
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
2 |
LIGETY, Ted
|
USA
|
84
|
SR
|
DNF
|
DNS
|
|
|
98 |
LEBEL, James&
nbsp; |
USA
|
96
|
J-2
|
DNS
|
DNS
|
|
|
57 |
FINK-DEBRAY, Miles
|
USA
|
88
|
SR
|
DNS
|
DNS
|
|
|
24 |
ROBERTS, Hig
|
USA
|
91
|
SR
|
DQg48
|
DNS
|
|
|
8 |
LAMB, Max
|
USA
|
90
|
SR
|
DQg7
|
DNS
|
|
|
4 |
GRANSTROM, Colby
|
USA
|
90
|
SR
|
DQg52
|
DNS
|
|