Ligety, Mancuso capture Combined titles
April 4th, 2005
MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN, Calif. (April 3) - Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) had the fastest time on both runs despite gusting winds and poor visibility Sunday to win his first two U.S. titles, capturing the slalom by nearly two seconds at the Oroweat U.S. Alpine Championships - and then the combined gold medal. Sarah Schleper (Vail, CO), who won the last World Cup slalom of the season, churned through heavy snow to win the women's slalom by .19 over Kristina Koznick (Eagan, MN).
Outdoor Life network will broadcast coverage from the races at Mammoth Mountain at 10 p.m. ET Saturday.
Ligety was timed in 1:37.54 with defending champion Jimmy Cochran (Keene, NH) second at 1:39.26; the victory also enabled Ligety to clinch the men's combined championship for his second gold medal - and another $3,000 - of the day. Canadian Brad Spence, runnerup to Chip Knight (Stowe, VT) in the NorAm slalom points, was third in 1:40.21 while Knight, fifth in the first run, did not finish his second run Sunday.
Schleper, third in the first run despite the gusting winds, broke through the snow to with a two-run time of 1:49.20. Koznick, who had the fastest final run after being fourth in the morning, was silver medalist in 1:49.39 and Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, CA), who medaled in all events a year ago, finished third and clinched the women's combined gold medal for the second year in a row.
10-race medal run for Mancuso
After winning the downhill and super G to open the 2003 Championships at Whiteface Mountain outside Lake Placid, N.Y., she failed to finish the slalom, which knocked her out of the combined calculation, and then she won the giant slalom. She medaled in each event at Alyeska Resort in Alaska a year ago, and has medaled in all four at Mammoth.
The weather was so poor the rest of Mammoth Mountain was shutdown and for a while athletes were taken to the start in tracked vehicles because the lifts were closed. Athletes battled gusting and erratic winds in the first run and the women's race finished in a driving snowstorm.
"It was pretty iffy. There were some places in the middle of my first and seconds run where I couldn't see my feet," Ligety said. "I was a little nervous they weren't going to be able to pull off the second run. The wind was kicking up a lot of snow...but the course held up pretty well."
Cochran echoed his World Cup teammate. "I was very nervous. I don't think I've ever run slalom in winds this bad," he said. "I was pretty sure they were going to cancel it...but it turned out to be better than I thought it would be. I thought it would be unfair, but it turned out okay. The tough part was in getting a period when there was no wind gusting."
World Cup overall champion Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) was sixth in the first run but did not start the second run because of knee caused by tendinitis, Head Coach Phil McNichol said. "Bode needs to be off his skis at this point but he wanted to race," McNichol said, adding he was expected to compete Tuesday in giant slalom, which concludes the Championships.
It's the fourth U.S. title of her career for Schleper, her third in slalom. She earned the first World Cup win of her career March 12 during World Cup Finals at Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
Schleper out-skied her mistakes
Schleper was surprised at the end of her run to see she had taken the lead, she said. "I boned the top and then I boned it as I came onto the flat and I figured, 'Oh man, I'm gonna be lucky to be seventh'...but I guess everyone had a lot of problem with the snow. It's dumping and the visibility was tough," she said. "I think everyone had a hard time.
"Now that I've finished, I'm glad they pulled it off," she laughed.
She added, 'I just tried to not-worry about what I couldn't control - the conditions, the course set, the weather. I paid attention to what I could control, listened to tunes, take some free runs, and focused on my run."
Mancuso said, "I thought the first run was a little sktchy [problematic] but we got over it. Really, I thought the run was worse than the second; the only issue was if the gates would stay up straight or not. The gusts of winds made it kind of unfair for everyone...which made it fair for everyone because we all had crazy winds and tough conditions."
Riml: Good message from Schleper
Women's Head Coach Patrick Riml again gave high marks to the poise of his World Cup group, especially Schleper and Mancuso, but also passed out another gold medal to the Mammoth hill crew. "The Race Department here at Mammoth has done such an outstanding job, and they were determined to get this race in today," he said. "We all wanted it, of course, but they made it happen...and I think everyone's grateful for what they did."
At the same time, he said, he was particularly pleased with Schleper's focus. "It was good for her because it helped her win, but that idea of not paying attention to what she can't control is also a good message for all these young skiers who want to be on the Ski Team and who want to race on the World Cup," he said. "You have to focus on what you can control...only what you control."
The women race giant slalom Monday and the men finish the Championships Tuesday with their GS. Live online timing transmissions are available from the Oroweat U.S. Alpine Championships through USSA's partnership with Split Second Timing at: http://ussa.splitsecondrealtime.com.
OROWEAT 2005 U.S. ALPINE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Mammoth Mountain, CA - April 3, 2005
Men's Slalom
1. Ted Ligety, Park City, Utah, 1:37.54
2. Jimmy Cochran, Keene, N.H., 1:39.26
3. Brad Spence, Canada, 1:40.21
4. Andrew Weibrecht, Lake Placid, N.Y., 1:40.42
5. Steve Nyman, Orem, Utah, 1:40.44
Women's Slalom
1. Sarah Schleper, Vail, Colo., 1:49.20
2. Kristina Koznick, Eagan, Minn., 1:49.39
3. Julia Mancuso, Olympic Valley, Calif., 1:50.55
4. Katie Kitchcock, Sugar Bowl, Calif., 1:51.05
5. Jessica Kelley, Starksboro, Vt., 1:51.63
