10th. The U.S. had not had two men in the top 10 of a
world junior downhill in five years.
Cochran-Siegle agreed he is having a pretty good
season, what with World Cup points from Beaver Creek
and Crans-Montana, a couple Europa Cup top-10s and
the lead in both NorAm speed disciplines.
“I finished last season on a pretty good note and kind of
carried it through,” he said. “After Beaver Creek I knew
I was skiing well, and just kept it going. I’ve definitely
had some bad days here and there, but knowing you’re
skiing well, you just try to get better from the mistakes. I
like to freeski a lot, and I think that helps, just being on
snow a ton.”
As for dealing with pressure, well, that’s what Mom
teaches. “Mom works with kids dealing with pressure, so
she has always helped me out with that,” said Cochran-
Siegle. “Just make sure you’re having fun. And this is
the best place you can be to have fun.”
He said he was proud to be part of the family tradition.
“It’s nice to add this title onto the Cochran collection,”
he said.
Beyond Cochran-Siegle and the 10th from Bennett,
the American group saw Scott Snow take 30th, Tanner
Farrow 33rd and Kieffer Christianson 37th. Robert Cone
declined to start.
BRAD GHENT; USSA
Cochran-Siegle shared the downhill podium with a pair of Swiss,
Ralph Weber and Nils Mani.
Women’s Giant Slalom, March 3
In a move to placate television, the women’s GS was split
over two days, which had the added benefit of getting into
somewhat colder weather. Just not quite cold enough.
Sitting in third place overnight, Shiffrin struggled
mightily in the second run and dropped well down the
finish order to 20th. Norwegian Ragnhild Mowinckel got
a 0.26-second win over the defending champion, Sara
Hector of Sweden. Frenchwoman Adeline Baud won the
bronze by a hundredth over Norway’s Kristine Gjelsten
Haugen.
The conditions had improved, and organizers had
saturated the steepest section of the course with
chemicals to keep it firm. But on the first steep section,
out of the start, they did not blanket the snow so thickly.
It started to break up after 20 or 30 racers developed a
groove up top.
Seventh overnight, Mowinckel was beside herself to
have won. “I did not know what to do with myself at
the end,” she said. “This is the most amazing thing I
have ever experienced. It was so exciting. Still I do not
understand that I have won. Imagine that I have become
junior world champion. Being on top of the podium is
seriously cool.”
The extra time to ponder was not a friend to Hector.
“I really wanted to win but for some reason I really felt
nervous before my run,” the defending champ said.
Shiffrin was skiing well, according to the coach, before
her error.
“It was on the sixth or seventh gate,” said Wagner.
“She just leaned in. She had been skiing well, using the
groove, and she kind of banged in and never recovered.
It was just heading into the transition into the top flat and
she had no speed. Once you do that, make a mistake
just before a really-flat flat, it’s over.”
To her credit, Shiffrin stuck with it and finished, placing
20th. The only U.S. finisher was Lauren Samuels in
47th. Jacqueline Wiles was DQ’d with Foreste Peterson,
Anna Marno and Abby Ghent all failing to finish. “They
were having really good runs,” said Wagner. “They were
going for it. From where they were they had to give it
everything.”
Canada had Mikaela Tommy 31st, Stephanie Marcil
50th and Randa Teschner 55th.
The speed track was more firm than it had been for the
downhill, but there was still some soft snow around the
edges, and Cochran-Siegle found it off the first jump and
had no chance to finish. The Swiss podium finishers from
