Beaver Creek: Cochran punches another top 30

BEAVER CREEK, Colorado — Jimmy Cochran has scored points in all three of his runs this week down the Birds of Prey course. The 25-year-old can make it a clean sweep by scoring in today’s slalom, Cochran’s strongest event.
BEAVER CREEK, Colorado — Jimmy Cochran has scored points in all three of his runs this week down the Birds of Prey course. The 25-year-old can make it a clean sweep by scoring in today’s slalom, Cochran’s strongest event.
    Cochran certainly wasn’t thrilled with his second run in Satuday’s GS. Sitting 25th after the first run, he dropped to 27th in the final results and was one of just three U.S. racers to finish in the top 30. Ted Ligety finished on the podium in third, and first-run leader Bode Miller finished 12th.
    “It’s just fun to have a second run today, I’m psyched about that,” Cochran said. “I still have a ways to go in my GS, I think, to get to where I want to be, even to approach Ted and Bode.
    “It’s nice to keep building and improving, to come down and be in the lead. Today, second run, I felt like I skied pretty well but wasn’t that fast. I’ll keep working on GS; it’s a work in progress right now. Slalom, I’m really confident; GS not as much.”
    Cochran will step into the start house today looking to post his second top-15 finish of the season in slalom after finishing 15th to open the season in Levi, Finland. Cochran said he came away from Levi enlightened about a few changes in his technique, mainly staying low and trying to constantly drive forward on the course. Ligety, Cochran said, is the model racer he would like to emulate in GS.
    “He stays very low. And the thing that he does that’s awesome is he gets his hip into the turn real early, and he’s so powerful in that position, too,” Cochran said of Ligety. “He gets so much of the turn done by the time he’s at the gate that he can just release and move across the hill to the next gate.”
    As for Miller, Cochran said he doesn’t try to emulate him, but he would like to copy some of that speed and aggressiveness.
    “Bode’s tough. I mean, he does crazy things. He’s so unique,” he said. … “I still don’t move through the turn enough, I think. I come maybe across the hill too much instead of diving into the next turn. That’s confidence, really. I just have to get more miles and keep having races like this I can build off of. I feel like I have a lot more speed in me.”
    U.S. Ski Team CEO Bill Marolt, after watching Saturday’s race, said Cochran is a vital part of the men’s team who adds unquestioned talent and depth to the squad.
    “I think that Jimmy is one of those young guys who’s really dedicated himself to getting better, and he’s worked hard this past summer,” Marolt said. “He came to Park City [Utah] and he built off a good year last year.”