Tommy Ford wins slalom and combined titles

The odds after the first run weren’t good, but Tommy Ford put it on cruise control in the second run and made the jump from sixth place to U.S. Slalom Champion at Lake Placid Sunday (March 21).

Conditions had changed dramatically overnight. With temperatures hovering near 60 Saturday, Sunday saw intermittent snow showers that and the accompanying cold that turned an already long and brutal slalom course into a slick, unpredictable surface.

“That was good for me,” said Ford, concluding his first full World Cup season. “I’ve been running in ruts all year long.”

The morning run had been led by Canadian Patrick Biggs, Norwegian Pioneer Leif Kristian Haugen and U.S. star Ted Ligety respectively.  A second and a third out the strategy for Ford was pretty simple. “Yep, just go for it. Let ’em go. That’s all I’ve been doing for the last few weeks in slalom and it’s been working out.”

He blistered his second run on a day when virtually no one looked good fighting the course. Though it was far from a perfect run, what happened after him underscored how good it had been.  Olympian Jimmy Cochran skied out, David Chodounsky, the defending slalom champion couldn’t come close to Ford’s second run time. World Cup GS Champion Ligety had trouble early on the hill and never really got untracked, pushing against the grain down the final pitch and finishing seventh on the day. Haugen, a member of both the Norwegian Olympic squad and the NCCA Champion University of Denver also fought his way down the final pitch losing time to finish fourth. Biggs, the last man with a legitimate shot, loaded up and launched high on the final pitch with a ski over his head and came to a dead stop skiing straight into a gate. He stepped up to make the gate and finished a lackluster 18th. He could laugh about the loss in the finish, shrugging philosophically. “That,” he said, is ski racing.”

With that Ford became the U.S. slalom champion, Chodounsky got second and Nolan Kasper third. Keep them on the podium for they finished in the same order for the combined, putting together their super G and slalom results and giving each a double payday.

Top junior in the slalom Colby Granstrom in tenth with Jared Goldberg one placing back. Max Lamb in 15th was the third best junior. For the combined the results were Goldberg, Lamb and Tucker Marshall.

Tommy Ford SR Photo by McKee

US National Championships
Men’s Slalom
Lake Placid, NY
March 21, 2010
1    Tommy Ford, USA    2:02.17
2    David Chodounsky, USA    2:02.94
3    Nolan Kasper, USA    2:03.35
4    Leif Kristian Haugen, NOR    2:03.94
5    Chris Frank, USA    2:04.94
6    David Donaldson, CAN    2:05.21
7    Ted Ligety, USA    2:05.31
8    Warner Nickerson, USA    2:06.36
9    Adam Cole, USA    2:06.90
10    Colby Granstrom, USA    2:07.05
11    Jared Goldberg, USA    2:07.38
12    Fredrik Kingstad, SWE    2:07.58
13    William Ford, USA    2:07.80
14    Paul Atkinson, CAN    2:08.08
15    Max Lamb, USA    2:08.21
16    Peter Ankeny, USA    2:08.57
17    Taylor Wunsch, USA    2:08.66
18    Patrick Biggs, CAN    2:08.91
19    Niko Harmanen, FIN    2:09.85
20    Marc Massie, USA    2:09.87
21    Mark Engel, USA    2:11.23
22    Tucker Marshall, USA    2:11.72
23    Hig Roberts, USA    2:13.90
24    Spencer Nelson, USA    2:14.15
25    Ben Morse, USA    2:15.24
26    Charlie Reynolds, USA    2:15.39
27    Trevor Leafe, USA    2:16.25
28    Nicholas Scalia, USA    2:18.15
29    Hunter Black, USA    2:18.95
30    Victor Major, USA    2:20.43
31    Bobby Farrell, USA    2:21.43
32    Adam Barwood, NZE    2:22.68
33    Dustin Martin, USA    2:23.81
34    Kevin Drury, CAN    2:24.06
35    Dylan Thomas, USA    2:24.31
36    Robert Cone, USA    2:29.25
37    Ryan Cochran-Siegle, USA    2:32.89
38    Sam Coffey, USA    2:35.93
39    Robby Kelley, USA    2:53.98
40    Sean Higgins, USA    3:07.96

Men’s combined
1 Tommy Ford, USA    188.90
2 David Chodounsky, USA    190.16
3 Nolan Kasper, USA    191.42
4 Chris Frank, USA    191.90
5 Ted Ligety, USA    192.30
6 Warner Nickerson, USA    192.78
7 Adam Cole, USA    194.95
8 Jared Goldberg, USA    196.12
9 Max Lamb, USA    197.13
10 William Ford, USA    199.32
11 Niko Harmanen, FIN    199.33
12 Tucker Marshall, USA    201.07
13 Mark Engel, USA    201.28
14 Hig Roberts, USA    203.33
15 Ben Morse, USA    204.41
16 Charlie Reynolds, USA    204.91
17 Trevor Leafe, USA    205.93
18 Spencer Nelson, USA    207.98
19 Hunter Black, USA    209.47
20 Nicholas Scalia, USA    209.56
21 Victor Major, USA    210.66
22 Dustin Martin, USA    214.21
23 Adam Barwood, NZE    214.76
24 Ryan Cochran-Siegle, CAN    219.63
25 Robert Cone, USA    220.27
26 Sam Coffey, USA    224.91