Jimmy Cochran leads US with 9th-place finish in slalom as Ligety struggles and Miller rests

Cochran leads US as Ligety falters and Bode rests

ALTA BADIA, Italy — With Bode Miller resting his ankle and Ted Ligety failing to make the second run, Jimmy Cochran led the U.S. team Monday on a World Cup slalom course that has treated him well.

He finished ninth in a race won by Austria’s Reinfried Herbst, who made it two victories in two slaloms this season.

Moving up from second after the opening leg, Herbst won in a combined time of 1 minute, 49.31 seconds. Silvan Zurbriggen of Switzerland had the fastest second leg and finished runner-up, 0.08 seconds behind. First-run leader Manfred Pranger of Austria was third, 0.17 back.

Cochran comes from a family in Keene, N.H., that has contributed a long line of skiers to the American team. This was the fifth top-10 result of his career, with three coming on the Gran Risa.

While Ligety and other favorites struggled with a tricky course setting in the opening run, Cochran qualified comfortably. He then charged down in his second trip.

Croatian coach Ante Kostelic laid down a quick series of gates coming over a roll at midcourse. Usually skiers face such conditions only on the final flat just before the finish. With son Ivica out recovering from back surgery, Kostelic left after he set the course, angering some skiers and athletes.

“That’s not cool,” Cochran said. “But he always sets like this and we knew what we were getting into.”

Herbst also won the season’s first slalom in Levi, Finland, last month.

“I wanted to have a good start but I wasn’t expecting this,” he said.

Olympic slalom champion Benjamin Raich was third after the opening leg but fell midway down the second run. Still, Raich maintained a 12-point lead over Carlo Janka in the overall World Cup standings. The Swiss skier straddled the second gate on course in the opening run.

Among those who didn’t make it down in the opening leg were 2007 slalom world champion Mario Matt, German standout Felix Neureuther and promising Austrian Marcel Hirscher, who won a giant slalom for the first time eight days ago.

Ligety won the gold medal in combined at the 2006 Turin Olympics based on his slaloming. He has struggled in the slalom the past few seasons while developing into one of the circuit’s premier giant slalom skiers. The Park City, Utah, resident finished 39th in the first leg — outside the top 30 that qualify for the second run.

Miller sprained his ankle in a team volleyball game this month. Slalom is the discipline that puts the most stress on the injured foot.

The other three Americans in the race — Tim Jitloff, Paul McDonald and David Chodounsky — failed to finish. Jitloff straddled a gate on the top section and McDonald and Chodounsky went out midway down.

It was the first World Cup race for Chodounsky, a former NCAA champion at Dartmouth.

“This is a huge checkpoint in my skiing career,” the Crested Butte, Colo.’ skier said before the start. “My dream is still very alive.”

Miller and Ligety are to compete Tuesday in an exhibition race held at the U.S. team’s training base in nearby Paganella. Organized in part by former U.S. head coach Phil McNichol, the winner take-all race is worth $143,000.

After a short Christmas break, the men’s circuit resumes with the demanding downhill in Bormio on Dec. 29.