Ski Racing - April 16, 2012

Shiffrin may have surprised a few people with the slalom win at her first Nationals appearance last year. This year, the World Cup
podium finisher (third in the Lienz slalom) was the odds-on favorite.
With a 1.7-second winning margin over Hailey Duke in second and Kiley Staples in third, Shiffrin kicked off the championships with
a bang, showing her legions of young fans why she was one of only two American women to take a World Cup slalom podium this
season. Just a few days later, she took another step in the right direction in her journey to be more than just a slalom skier with a
third-place finish in the GS.

“I’m just really happy to be back here,” said Shiffrin. “I love racing at Winter Park and I love slalom, so it’s a good match. “ Mancuso raked in her 14th and 15th career U.S. national titles (a U.S. record) with wins in both the super G and GS. She took the super G win with a whopping 1.2-second margin over three-time super G silver medalist Leanne Smith. “It’s fun coming to Nationals, and it’s fun to win races — racing World Cup all the time you don’t get to win that many races so its actually still a special feeling,” said Mancuso, who showed up at the super G start in Head boots just a few days before announcing a three-year deal that will keep her on the brand’s skis, boots and bindings through 2015. “I definitely remember racing with the older veterans on the U.S. Ski Team and the girls racing World Cup…. I know my teammates like that I come; of course, I have to come to keep them in line.” Tommy Ford was another title defender, notching his seventh Nationals gold with the slalom victory. “I added some old-school turns the second run but skied well on the bottom,” said Ford. “It’s always fun to win, I skied well and it was fun to ski well and good slalom.”

Cochran Family Legacy Lives On

The legendary skiing Cochran family has been producing top American ski racers for half a century. As most ski racing fans know, patriarch Mickey Cochran was U.S. head coach in 1974, and sent four of his children (Bobby, Barbara Ann, Marilyn and Lindy) to the Olympic Winter Games. Jess Kelley (daughter of Lindy) and Jimmy Cochran (son of Bobby) led in the second generation.

There was a changing of the Cochran guard at the 2012 U.S. Alpine Championships as Jimmy announced his retirement after nine years on the U.S. Ski Team, and his younger cousins Ryan Cochran-Siegle and Robby Kelley made strong strides as up-and-coming powers.