Vermont’s Ryan Cochran-Siegle is on Fire
He grew up at tiny Cochran’s Ski Area in Richmond, Vt. His ski instructors were his mother, Barbara Ann Cochran, and Aunt Lindy, Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Bob.
There happen to be a number of Olympic medalists in that group (see Ski Racing’s Winningest Family) and World Cup winners. And the Cochrans have passed on their secrets to skiing fast, very fast, to Ryan Cochran Siegle, 28.
Skiing as a member of the Mt. Mansfield Ski Club, Ryan earned his first Alpine skiing World Cup victory in Bormio, Italy, on Tues., Dec. 29, taking the Super G race with a margin of .79 of a second over Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr. It’s the largest margin in the discipline in nearly five years. It’s also the first time that an American man has won a World Cup Super G since Bode Miller won in 2006. Then, on Dec. 30, he raced to 7th place in the downhill there, the top American.
Ten days earlier, Ryan, son of Olympic slalom gold medalist Barbara Ann, made his first World Cup podium, finishing second in a downhill in Val Gardena. Ryan has been posting consistently fast finishes in training runs (he won both downhill training runs in Bormio) and had been favorite for Wednesday’s downhill. Watch his Super G winning run below:
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“Having success in Gardena, I feel like I can trust myself now, trust to just let things flow,” he said in a press conference after the race. “There’s a certain [level] of confidence that I have right now that allows me to ski with what looks like a little bit of risk but also kind of carrying with some smooth skiing.”
“I don’t think I’m the favorite tomorrow,” said Cochran-Siegle, the 2012 World junior downhill champion said on Tuesday. “Watching video yesterday, I think there were a lot of good skiers. I’m still young. I’m still learning.”
