Cochran-Siegle Seventh in Exciting Bormio Downhill
Ryan Cochran-Siegle thrilled downhill fans on Wednesday, linking together one of the fastest runs with a couple of incredible recoveries to take seventh in the Bormio downhill.
The Austrians went one-two on the dark and bumpy Stelvio track, with Matthias Mayer taking first and Vincent Kriechmayr second. Urs Kryenbuehl of Switzerland was third. It was a tight podium, with all men finishing within .06 seconds of each other.
Ryan was fastest in both downhill training runs and was equally as fast as soon as he kicked open the start wand. However, it looked like he was done off the first jump when he flew a little too far and landed with his butt on the tails of his skis. But he managed to muscle himself back into a tuck and continued making up time; each split flashing green throughout the run. Then, just before the finish, he came in a little in the backseat off a roller and nearly threw a power-wedge into his run—before straightening himself out and finishing. Murmurs of Bode Miller were thrown around at the finish, with racers compared Ryan’s run to the fellow fast New England speed skier and speculating that Ryan would have won again if he didn’t have those errors.
"The top jump, I was just getting a little rattled and backseat and a little beyond my comfort zone. I think that was lucky I was able to carry through there," said Ryan. "Getting seventh in a World Cup downhill, I am grateful for that and appreciate that result. I was happy to survive when I got to the finish and seeing that I was still competitive was cool, but I’m realizing that it could have been a really good day. I'm learning with that and will try to take what I learned this year into next year."
Ryan had won Tuesday’s super-G—his first World Cup victory—and his results in Bormio combined with his results this season continue to prove that he’s a force to be reckoned with on the FIS World Cup circuit. He podiumed in the Val Gardena downhill and has only finished out of the top 15 in a speed event once this season.
"End of the day, it was definitely an incredible weekend," Ryan said. "Yesterday was something else. I don’t know if that's hit me yet. In a way, this is a good way to end the weekend—not being totally on top, staying a little bit hungry, knowing that there’s still more to learn and more to gain in order to be that top-level skier that I’m trying to be and believe that I can be."
Rounding out the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team, Jared Goldberg, who put down a couple of strong downhill training runs, finished 20th. Travis Ganong finished just out of the points in 31st, while Bryce Bennett crashed and DNFed, but is OK. So far this season, the Team has amassed nine podiums across five different athletes, as well as career-best results and first World Cup points for several athletes—making it the strongest start to a season for this generation of U.S. Ski Teamers.
The men’s speed team has an extended break over the new year before heading to Adelboden, Switzerland January 8-10. The tech men start back up again in Zagreb, Croatia with a night slalom on January 6.
RESULTS
Men’s downhill
HOW TO WATCH
Dec. 28, 2020 - Jan. 3, 2021
All Times EST
Sunday, Jan. 3
6:30 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Women's Slalom, run 1 - LIVE, Zagreb, CRO, Streaming Peacock
9:30 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Women's Slalom, run 2 - LIVE, Zagreb, CRO, Broadcast Olympic Channel
9:30 a.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Women's Slalom, run 2 - LIVE, Zagreb, CRO, Streaming Peacock
3:00 p.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Women's Slalom - Same-Day Broadcast, Zagreb, CRO, Broadcast NBC
4:30 p.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Men's Downhill - Replay From Bormio, Italy, Bormio, ITA, Broadcast NBC
6:30 p.m. FIS Alpine World Cup Women's Slalom - Same-Day Broadcast, Zagreb, CRO, Broadcast NBCSN
All streams will be available via desktop as well as mobile, tablet, and connected television platforms. The NBC Sports, Peacock TV, and Olympic Channel app are available on the Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire.
