Daron Rahlves leads first GS run; Miller out, Spencer 6, Cochran 15

Daron Rahlves leads first GS run; Miller out, Spencer 6, Cochran 15{mosimage}BORMIO, Italy (Feb. 10) – Downhill silver medalist Daron Rahlves (Sugar Bowl, CA) took the first run lead by six-tenths of a second Thursday in giant slalom at the World Alpine Ski Championships. Dane Spencer (Boise, ID) was sixth with Jimmy Cochran (Keene, NH) 15th after defending champion Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) crashed.

“It was an A run but it wasn’t an A-plus run. I did make a lot of mistakes – I particularly had some trouble on the last pitch, on the fallaway,” said Rahlves after he was timed in an unofficial 1:24.45 to lead the field of 154 racers in the opening run. Hermann Maier of Austria, the 1998 Olympic GS gold medalist, was second in 1:25.05 with Canadian Jean-Philippe third (1:25.33).

One day after a wildcat strike by television technicians shutdown racing at the Championships, racers had a tough time with the length and the course-set for the first run. Nine of the first 30 skiers – an extremely high number in a giant slalom – failed to finish, including Miller and Norwegian great Lasse Kjus, the GS champion at Beaver Creek, Colo., when he won five medals at the 1999 World championships.

“Part of that is the hill. It’s steep and then flat, you’re sitting there and then all of a sudden two or three gates are really demanding,” said Cochran, who raced one day after a memorial service was held in Richmond, Vt., for his grandmather, Cochran cClan matriarch Ginny Cochran, who died Saturday at 76. “The rhythm changes, for sure, make it difficult.”

He said very flat light early in the race made conditions even more difficult. Kjus second No. 2 and Miller, the defending GS world champion, was fifth. “If you’re not moving forward actively – like what Daron does so well, he’s always on his skis, great stance, moving forward into the turns…if you don’t do that, that’s what happens.”

Spencer said, “This is a really great run for me. We were able to make some adjustments to my plan after Bode went out and that made a big difference for me. But, for me, the difference in the second run will be bringing a lot more intensity to the middle part of the course and that will pick up some time for me.”