Ryan Cochran-Siegle on Tuesday won the super-G on the Stelvio course in the Italian Alps by a huge margin for his first World Cup victory.
He had a precise and smooth run on one of the circuit’s most challenging slopes to finish 0.79 seconds faster than Vincent Kriechmayr of Austria.
“It’s definitely a shock to me,” said Cochran-Siegle, the first male US skier to win a World Cup super-G since Bode Miller won in Hinterstoder, Austria, in 2006.
Photo: AP
“I didn’t hold any expectations on this track. I just tried to ski the hill as well as I could,” he added.
Adrian Smiseth Sejersted was 0.94 seconds behind in third place, followed by his Norwegian teammate Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who trailed by 1.18 seconds.
Cochran-Siegle’s previous career-best result came this month when he finished runner-up to Kilde in a downhill on the Saslong course in another Italian resort, Val Gardena.
Last weekend, Cochran-Siegle posted the fastest times in both downhill training runs on the Stelvio. The downhill race was held yesterday.
He said that his recent strong showings have given him a confidence “that allows me to ski [in a way] that it looks like taking a little bit of risk, but also kind of carrying some smooth skiing. I think if you find that, it becomes easy.”
WOMEN’S SLALOM
Michelle Gisin on Tuesday became the first Swiss woman in nearly 19 years to win a World Cup Alpine skiing slalom when she finished first under the floodlights in Semmering, Austria.
The victory in the last women’s race of the year also ended a dominant run by Mikaela Shiffrin of the US and Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova, who between them had won every World Cup slalom since January 2017 — a sequence of 28 races.
“It’s crazy. I broke the incredible run of two giants,” Gisin said.
Shiffrin had led after the first leg by 0.02 seconds, but Gisin, the 2018 Olympic combined gold medalist, went faster over the second run.
“I was really pushing on the second run and I didn’t handle that very well. I made some mistakes, but then again, I could have been out of the course,” Shiffrin said.
It is the first calendar year since 2012 when Shiffrin has not had a slalom win.
Katharina Liensberger of Austria finished second, 0.11 seconds slower, with Shiffrin in third place for her 43rd podium in the past 46 slaloms.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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