ALTA BADIA, Italy (Dec. 21) - The U.S. Ski Team's Jimmy Cochran (Keene, NH) continued to show his slalom strength by upgrading a 16th place finish in the first run to ninth on a tricky Audi FIS Alpine World Cup in Alta Badia. Austria's Reinfried Herbst won.

Cochran managed to stay in as 22 men went out in the first run and three others were disqualified.

"I felt really comfortable today, and confident. Top 10 is awesome for me and I'll take it. This course suited me. It's a lot tighter and a lot more rhythmic and I think I just capitalized on it," Cochran said. "It's a solid result. We have a lot of slaloms in January so hopefully we can build and keep improving. I feel like I have more speed in me."

According to Men's Alpine Head Coach Sasha Rearick, Cochran's skiing was solid and a foundation upon which they can build for future races.

"I am very pleased with his skiing. He skied fantastic on the top and in the middle section. We've just got to keep the momentum building on him," Rearick said. "He's in a good place, he is having fun, and we've got to continue that."

For Cochran, success on the course comes from the preparation he has done, and perhaps a little maturity here and there.

"I'm maybe a little older and a little smarter - some days, anyway," Cochran said. "This year I feel like we've had really awesome preparation. We have a great group of guys who are really fun to be around. There is certainly a lot of talent in our group.

"I wanted to go into the year, work hard, and have fun. I think I have been doing that so far."

Cochran hails from a long lineage of alpine racers starting with his grandfather, who was U.S. head coach in 1974. His dad and three aunts were Olympians, and he’s got three relatives on the Ski Team. For the athlete, being among their ranks is an honor.

"It's a crazy sport and just to be in the same conversation as my dad and his sisters is really neat for me because they were my heroes growing up and they still are."

Olympic champion Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) was also in the running for run two of slalom. He found his way through the middle and bottom sections, but trouble and a loss of time on the top made it impossible to make the flip.

David Chodunsky (Crested Butte, CO) marked the day with the first World Cup run of his career. The newcomer to the tour skied really well up top, but then hooked a tip in the flush mid course.

"It was a whole new experience for sure. I was surprised, I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. I did what I could, thought I had a pretty good run going, and things just didn't go my way," Chodunsky said. "Hopefully I get to do this again. I've been striving for this my whole life."

The tech team returns home for the holidays until Jan. 1 and will work on conditioning during the break.

"We need to step up as a team, we need to find speed and our confidence. That training block and conditioning block is going to be important," Rearick said.

Ligety, Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) and Tim Jitloff (Reno, NV) now head to the U.S. Ski Team's European Training Base in Paganella, Italy for the first World Alpine Rockfest event on Tuesday featuring an exhibition ski race with World Cup stars, plus a concert from Placebo.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2010 AUDI FIS ALPINE WORLD CUP
Alta Badia, Italy – Dec. 21, 2009
Men’s Slalom

1. Reinfried Herbst, Austria, 1:49.31
2. Silvan Zurbriggen, Switzerland, 1:49.39
3. Manfred Pranger, Austria, 1:49.48
4. Manfred Moelgg, Italy, 1:49.81
5. Michael Janyk, Canada, 1:49.98
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9. Jimmy Cochran, Keene, NH, 1:51.01
39. Ted Ligety, Park City, UT, 56.56
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DNF1: David Chodunsky, Crested Butte, CO; Paul McDonald, Bellevue, WA; Tim Jitloff, Reno, NV

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