Cochran-Siegle Cruises To First Career Win In Bormio Super G

On Tuesday in Bormio, Italy, Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team athlete Ryan Cochran-Siegle ended a 14-year drought to become the first American male to win a FIS Ski Alpine World Cup super-G since Bode Miller in Dec. 2006. 

The victory comes on the heels of Cochran-Siegle’s first career podium which he earned just before the Christmas break in Val Gardena, taking second in the downhill.

Today’s victory came with an impressive 0.79 advantage over Austrian Vincent Kreichmayer. Cochran-Siegle attacked the middle portion of the course, allowing him to glide to the victory. Third place went to Norwegian Adrian Smiseth Sejersted, who is also having a banner season, earning his first two career podiums less than a month apart. His first career podium, second place, came in the Val d’Isere super-G.

"I was a the limit through the middle part of the course and gained a lot of time there, which let me build up a pretty good gap," said Cochran Siegle. "Having success in Val Gardena let me have turst in myself and my skiing."

It’s been a steady build towards the top for Ryan Cochran-Siegle, the son of 1972 Olympic slalom champion Barbara Ann Cochran. He injured his left knee in a crash on the third gate of the downhill portion of the alpine combined at the 2013 World Championships in Schladming, Austria. At that same World Champs, teammate and two-time Olympic champion Ted Ligety won the super-G. With multiple surgeries and thousands of hours spent in the gym, Ryan is one of the most intensely focused and coachable athletes on the U.S. Alpine Ski Team. In 2012, he won double gold at the World Junior Championships in Italy.

Ryan’s nearly eight-tenths margin of victory is the largest winning margin in a men’s World Cup super-G since Carlo Janka of Switzerland in the Olympic test event in Korea in 2016. When asked about this margin, Ryan humbly and in his signature understated manner replied, “I skied well. I had a good approach and carried speed in a lot of sections...that middle section, I definitely skied with a good limit and just trusting that, trying to ski it smart. The speed I gained from there, I carried through the finish and had that gap.”

Ryan was quick to give credit to the U.S. Ski Team, the U.S. Ski Team Speed Center at Copper Mountain, Colo., and his serviceman and teammates for their support. “I’ve always been pretty technically sound, but gliding has always been a weakness of mine,” he reflected. “The past couple of years I’ve been skiing a little more speed with our speed team, both in Copper, and South America, which has progressively gotten me to the point where I can be solid on race day. I have to shout out the team and the serviceman Gregor, and everyone who has helped me get to this point because it is a team effort.”

When asked about what it's like to be the first American male to win a World Cup super-G since Bode in 2006, Ryan said, “It’s a tricky event, there’s just so many things that have to fall into place for race day in order to make it happen, but it’s pretty spectacular.” The interviewer then mentioned that Ryan now has matched his mother, and he replied, "I think she had four World Cup wins...and a bunch of other medals, but yeah—it's pretty spectacular."

Knocked out of podium range were two of the super-G dominators so far this season, with Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR) and Mauro Caviezel (SUI), who had to settle for fourth and fifth place, respectively.

Travis Ganong grabbed another top-15 result in super-G, while Bryce Bennett, Jared Goldberg, and Erik Arvidsson also started for the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team in Tuesday’s super-G, and ended up 37th, 41st, and 45th, respectively. So far this season, the U.S. Alpine Ski Team has amassed eight podiums for five different athletes, making it the strongest start to the season the Team has had in a long time.

The post-Christmas races in Bormio have been a rollercoaster ride for the men, who have battled tough weather conditions and multiple programme changes. But today, thanks to 24-7 work by the organizers the course was in good shape for a competitive race.