O’Brien Wins Super-G, Alpine Combined Titles

Nina O’Brien (San Francisco, Calif.) added two more U.S. Alpine Championship titles to her resume, winning both the super-G and the alpine combined at the Toyota U.S. Alpine Championships at Wednesday and Thursday Sugarloaf, Maine.

The reigning super-G National Champion, Ryan Cochran-Siegle, (Starksboro, Vt.) also added another U.S. title in super-G Wednesday, to go along with the downhill title he won on Tuesday. In the men’s alpine combined, Luke Winters (Gresham, Ore.) won his first U.S. title after placing 11th in the super-G portion of the combined on Wednesday and winning the slalom portion of the combined Thursday.

On another day of back-to-back races Wednesday, O’Brien finished second in the morning NorAm Cup super-G, then dialed in her line for the second race, which counted as both a NorAm Cup event and U.S. Alpine Championship race.

“I had a small mistake at the bottom of my (first run),” O’Brien said. “So I was a little bit more prepared coming into the National Championship run and knew what I wanted to clean up down there, and I did that, so that was awesome.”

On Thursday, she won the slalom portion of the alpine combined to wrap up the title.

“Nationals are always a high-level competition, but everyone is really friendly and it’s really fun,” she said.

O’Brien, who exploded onto the scene at the 2018 U.S. Alpine Championships with victories in slalom, giant slalom, and super-G, also added the overall NorAm Cup, slalom, giant slalom, and super-G titles to her resume following three days of downhill, super-G and slalom competition at Sugarloaf. She is also one of the favorites when the Toyota U.S. Alpine Championships resume with tech events at New Hampshire’s Waterville Valley Resort this weekend, having scored her first slalom and giant slalom points on the FIS Ski World Cup circuit this season.

Up next, the Toyota U.S. Alpine Championships head south to New Hampshire’s Waterville Valley Resort for parallel slalom Saturday, slalom Sunday, women’s giant slalom Monday and men’s giant slalom Tuesday.

RESULTS
Men’s U.S. Alpine Championships super-G
Women’s U.S. Alpine Championships super-G
Men’s U.S. Alpine Championships alpine combined
Women’s U.S. Alpine Championships alpine combined

EVENT SCHEDULE
March 23    Parallel Slalom (National Championships) - Waterville Valley Resort, N.H
March 24    Slalom (National Championships) - Waterville Valley Resort, N.H.
March 25    Women’s Giant Slalom (National Championships) - Waterville Valley Resort, N.H.
March 26    Men’s Giant Slalom (National Championships) - Waterville Valley Resort, N.H.