Ritchie, Cochran-Siegle Close to Team Combined Miracle in Fourth
On Wednesday’s men’s Team Combined at the FIS Alpine Ski World Championships Ryan Cochran-Siegle and Ben Ritchie just missed a medal in fourth place. The duo came from behind close to making a miracle happen and upsetting the Swiss-dominated podium.
“I was telling Ryan that to ski my best I was trying to separate the runs and think about it as my race. I did what I wanted to do and it was a solid run," said Ritchie. “That was an impressive run and super fun to watch, Ben carried our team today and it was just super cool to see.”
The Team Combined started off with the downhill just as it had the day prior when Mikaela Shiffrin and Breezy Johnson won gold. However on Wednesday the conditions were a bit different - less sun and more fog and rain. This made for a difficult downhill with many holds and varying snow conditions. Despite running the track three times earlier in the week some elements of the course needed to be analyzed and dialed in.
The team of Bryce Bennett and Jett Seymour ran first. Bennett came into the day extremely confident and ready to go. However once his run started he knew something was off. Bennett did not put down his best skiing due to his skis running too aggressively on the snow that was beginning to turn soft. This meant his teammate, Seymour would need to send in the slalom.
“I am such a picky guy with how the skis feel and I could tell from the first turn it was not going to be good and I felt stuck,” said Bennett. “The only thing about this event is that now that mistake puts a damper on the whole day so I feel bad for Jett but it happens.”
There was still one more downhiller for the U.S. and that was Cochran-Siegle. He had already nailed the course two times earlier in the week and knew what line would be fast. Cochran-Siegle went into 12th place for the downhill but not too far off the margin. He was 1.26 seconds back from the winning time giving his teammate Ben Ritchie a decent shot.
“It was a challenge. I was trying to correct things from the other day, I think the visibility had something to do with it. Hopefully the time stays close,” said Cochran-Siegle.
The course quickly shifted to slalom and the men’s slalom teams descended on the mountain. Since Bennett landed further back in the downhill, Seymour was able to start earlier after they flipped the top 30 skiers. Seymour skied solidly on a very long and turny course. While he did not go into the lead, he did move the duo up to 15th.
“It's warm out here today and the snow was breaking up so I was just trying to send it and make it down,” said Seymour. “I was just telling everyone this is a really fun event, and it is so cool to watch in the finish with all the other downhillers. I am bummed that I did not do my part today but Jett crushed it so we are excited to come back and do better,” said Bennett.
Then comes Ritchie. The cameras turned to Cochran-Siegle, Bennett and Seymour as they all anxiously awaited his run. Green light after green light Ritchie stepped it up and delivered. It may have been his skiing or the power of the ‘rally cap’ mentality that Cochran-Siegle manifested in the finish, but the day for the U.S. was about to get very exciting.
Skier after skier and no one was close to the combined time of Team USA 1. Then it was down to the three remaining Swiss teams. The U.S. ultimately ended up fourth place, just .20 hundredths away from a bronze medal and a major upset to the event where the U.S. was seen as an underdog. Nevertheless the men walked away with a group hug, a new team camaraderie experience and fire as they head into tech events this week.
The World Championships event is far from over with the two marquee technical events on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
RESULTS
men's team combined
HOW TO WATCH
Thursday, Feb. 13
3:45 a.m. - women’s giant slalom, run one - skiandsnowboard.live
7:15 a.m. - women’s giant slalom, run two - skiandsnowboard.live
Friday, Feb. 14
3:45 a.m. - men’s giant slalom, run one - skiandsnowboard.live
7:15 a.m. - men’s giant slalom, run two - skiandsnowboard.live
Saturday, Feb. 15
3:45 a.m. - women’s slalom, run one - skiandsnowboard.live
7:15 a.m. - women’s slalom, run two - skiandsnowboard.live
3:00 p.m. - women and men’s GS and team combined - NBC (tape delay)
Sunday, Feb. 16
3:45 a.m. - men’s slalom, run one - skiandsnowboard.live
7:15 a.m. - men’s slalom, run two - skiandsnowboard.live
4:00 p.m. - women and men’s slalom - NBC (tape delay)
