Ski Racing - April 21, 2011

CHAMPIONSHIPS 2011 U.S. ALPINE Resi and Seppi Stiegler each climbed the slalom bronze medal step at National Championships.

Mikaela Shiffrin warms
up on the GS before
taking the slalom title.

ERIC WILLIAMS; BEN DRUMMOND

Only a bump high on the first run slalom course could stop Mancuso from sweeping the weekend. That
honor went to 16-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin.
Kids in America
For the U.S. Ski Team’s World Cup regulars, Nationals came at the end of a long and grueling season and
provided a nice cool down in a low-pressure environment. For many of the country’s juniors, however, it
was the highlight of their season and a chance to take a big step forward.
The under- 20 crowd provided some inspiring racing, highlighted by the slalom victory of Burke Mountain
Academy’s Shiffrin, and the super G bronze-medal performance of Mount Bachelor’s Ryan Cochran-
Siegle. Both were named as Ski Racing’s Juniors of the Year (see the story in this issue).
Cochran-Siegle, this season’s NorAm super G champ, finished only 0.42 seconds behind winner Tommy
Ford for his first Nationals medal.

“It’s a lot of motivation to get better,” said Cochran-Siegle, who was also the top junior in the GS, finishing ninth overall. I really want to push myself this summer. “I feel like I have a lot more going for me so I definitely want to keep rolling.” Shiffrin, who had made her World Cup debut at 15 years old only a few weeks earlier, closed the show with a convincing win in the women’s slalom. As Mancuso suffered a DNF, Shiffrin took a 0.78-second lead in the snowy first run and kept it together on a tough second-run course to beat World Cup veteran Sarah Schleper by 0.52 seconds.

“I guess anything is possible; I was sure hoping for it, and luck came through today,” said Shiffrin. “Sarah
[Schleper] and Resi [Stiegler] have been so supportive of me. Beating them today is a crazy feeling for me
but the better part about it was that they were still supportive of it. This is the best end to a season ever.”
How did she plan to celebrate her win? “I think I’m going to go do homework,” she said.
Other top junior results included the eighth-place of Ski and Snowboard Club Vail’s Abby Ghent in the
women’s GS; the ninth place of Aspen’s Katherine Ryan in the super G; and the fourth place of Buck Hill’s
Michael Ankeny in the men’s slalom.

Just one year removed from being a junior himself, U.S. Ski Team C-Teamer Colby Granstrom, 20, grabbed his first Nationals medal with the slalom win, beating Ford by nearly a second and a half (1.33) after enduring a second run that saw several top first-run racers ski out in low visibility, snowy conditions. “[Being national champion] was always a dream of mine and now that it’s finally happening, it feels great, a great way to cap off the year,” said Granstrom.