Ryan Cochran-Siegle skied to a career-best fifth place in Sunday's alpine combined, drawing from his Cochran's Ski Area skills and posting the seventh-fastest slalom time, to lead the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team in Bormio, Italy, once again. 

France's Alexis Pinturault out down a respectable 12th-fastest super-G run, and won the slalom portion of the alpine combined, to seal his victory, .51 seconds ahead of Attacking Viking Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, and .56 ahead of the young Swiss Loic Meillard. 

Ryan was 15th in a tough super-G portion of the alpine combined. "The super-G inspection looked like you had to come out with good race intensity with icy snow and bumpy terrain, which was not easy to do after the past 3 days of full on World Cup downhill. I actually liked the way I came out of the gate, skiing more aggressively than my last couple super-G starts, but got bumped off line because of it before the traverse. I kept it going the rest of the way, but knew I didn’t carry as much speed out of that section as the top guys would have. I thought I took good necessary risk, but it just didn’t quite pay off to be more competitive on the run.

His slalom, on the other hand, was surprisingly (to himself) strong, as he skied a solid seventh-fastest slalom run. Following the race, Ryan—who comes out of Starksboro, Vt. and skied for Mount Mansfield Ski & Snowboard Club and Cochran's Ski Area—jokingly said, "Really don't know where that came from...felt pretty good in warm-ups and was coming hot off a second-place finish at Cochran's TGFS [Thank God for Snow Making] Race last March. All the confidence you need." 

"In slalom I had no expectations and kept my focus simple, trying to keep the arc short on the pitch and then getting to the new ski fast and early coming off the pitch with a good race mentality," he continued. "Knowing I had to ski to my limit in order to be in there helped me silence any internal thoughts aside from just my skiing. It felt to me very much in my zone and a state of flow from the top to bottom."

Ryan has scored in 11 of 12 races this season, across five disciplines—parallel giant slalom, giant slalom, alpine combined, super-G and downhill—highlighted by a career best fifth place on Sunday at Bormio. 

Bryce Bennett landed in 18th, while Sam Morse did not finish the slalom portion of the combined on Sunday. 

Up next for the men is a short break before the White Circus picks up again on Jan. 5 with a men's slalom in Zagreb, Croatia. 

RESULTS
Men’s Alpine Combined

STANDINGS
Men’s Alpine Combined
Men’s Overall  

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