Ford Leads Americans in Alta Badia

ALTA BADIA, Italy (Dec. 18, 2016) – The men’s World Cup tour moved to the other side of the Dolomites where Tommy Ford (Bend, OR) was the fastest American in the Alta Badia giant slalom.

Marcel Hirscher of Austria took an easy victory over Mathieu Faivre of France in second and Florian Eisath of Italy in third, which catapulted him to first in the giant slalom standings over France’s Alexis Pinturault, who crashed second run. It was also Hirscher’s fourth win at Alta Badia, tying him with Alberto Tomba, the only other man who has won the venue four times.  

Ford skied strongly both runs down the dark Grand Risa pitch, but had a couple of mistakes that cost him a top-10 finish. He took 13th place, adding to the GS points he scored in Val d’Isere at the beginning of the month. “I’m continuing the work I’ve been doing—skiing well and getting in a good position,” said Ford. “I executed better first run—kind of an unlucky mistake in the middle there.”

Ryan Cochran-Siegle took 20th place at Alta Badia. (Getty Images-Mitch Gunn)

Ryan Cochran-Siegle (Starksboro, VT) also put down two clean runs and grabbed GS points, finishing in 20th place. “Today I was able to put everything aside and try and hammer as hard as I could,” said Cochran-Siegle. “You can always try and push it a little harder—and I think I probably could have—but I’m pretty happy with how I skied. I made it to the finish and that’s a good day for me.”

Ted Ligety (Park City, UT), who is having back problems, skied out during the first run, only 12 gates into the course. "I just have stabbing pain all the way down my leg, nerve pain, so I haven't been able to ski much," said Ligety. "I've been getting injections and trying to get it sorted out but it hasn't really turned the corner yet."

Even with Ligety hurting, Cochran-Siegle spoke highly of the U.S. tech team’s potential. “Our training group in general is doing really well,” he said. “Ted has a little issue with his body right now, but he’s definitely super capable of being a super good GS skier. Just having him with us helps push all of our skiing up a bit. We’re all skiing super well—Daver (David Chodounsky), (Brennan) Rubie, Tommy and I. If we put down a good run, we’ll be in there.”

Next up, the tech guys race Monday’s parallel GS in Alta Badia—the last race before the Christmas holiday.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Tommy Ford was the first American, finishing in 13th place.
• Ryan Cochran-Siegle was 20th.
• Tim Jitloff (Park City, UT), David Chodounsky (Crested Butte, CO) did not qualify for second run. Ted Ligety and Brennan Rubie (Salt Lake City, UT) did not finish first run.
• The giant slalom race will be on NBCSN at 8 p.m. EST on Sunday.
• Road to Aspen: Marcel Hirscher’s win in Alta Badia puts him into first in the giant slalom standings at the midpoint of the season. There are only four giant slalom races to go before the World Cup Finals in Aspen.
• The guys have one more event before the Christmas break—Monday’s parallel GS.

QUOTES

Tommy Ford
I’m continuing the work I’ve been doing—skiing well and getting in a good position. I executed better first run—kind of an unlucky mistake in the middle there. Second run, pretty good skiing. I have some more work to do—mistake on the bottom, my bad! We don’t train too many really blind rolls, but that's OK, there are more races coming.

Ryan Cochran-Siegle
I’m super happy. I feel like the last couple weeks—since the first weekend of Val d’Isere—I started falling out. I didn’t think my training was going that well. Today I was able to put everything aside and try and hammer as hard as I could. I had a pretty haggard first run, but I had some speed in a lot of spots and it was a fun ride. I’m still just getting used to getting into the flip, and any day I get into the flip, it’s pretty fun. You can always try and push it a little harder—and I think I probably could have—but I’m pretty happy with how I skied. I made it to the finish and that’s a good day for me.

Tommy in training has been killing it. We had this really good training prep in Pfelders, Italy. Pretty similar hill to this and he seemed to be skiing really well. Our training group in general is doing really well. Ted has a little issue with his body right now, but he’s definitely super capable, obviously, of being a super good GS skier. Just having him with us helps push all of our skiing up a bit. We’re all skiing super well—Daver (David Chodounsky), (Brennan) Rubie, Tommy and I. If we put down a good run, we’ll be in there.

RESULTS
Men’s giant slalom

BROADCAST AND LIVE STREAMING (times EST)

Sun, Dec. 18
8:00 p.m. – Alta Badia men's giant slalom - NBCSN

Mon, Dec. 19
12:00 p.m. – Alta Badia men's parallel giant slalom – nbcsports.com – LIVE STREAM

Live streaming available on NBCsports.com/Live and the NBC Sports app, which is available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV and Amazon Fire.