"Shootout" at Schladming for U.S. slalom start

SCHLADMING, Austria — When the World Cup tour hits its final race before the World Championships on Tuesday night, slalom start rights will be up for grabs among U.S. men.
SCHLADMING, Austria — When the World Cup tour hits its final race before the World Championships on Tuesday night, slalom start rights will be up for grabs among U.S. men.
    Live interval timing is available at livetiming.usskiteam.com today at noon ET.
    Olympic combined gold medalist Ted Ligety and Jimmy Cochran have clinched start spots by their World Cup results, but that still leaves two potential places to be filled at Worlds.
    Bode Miller is missing only the slalom title to complete his set of World Championships gold medals and he would be the first to win all five disciplines (SL, giant slalom, super G, downhill and combined), if he were to win in Are, Sweden. But first, he needs to clinch a slalom start spot … and Schladming is the last opportunity. He hasn't finished a World Cup slalom since January 2006, on the eve of the Olympics.
    Tom Rothrock, a 2002 Olympian, and former Junior World Championships combined gold medalist Tim Jitloff also are looking to clinch a slalom spot.
    "Slalom's been a bit of a mystery for the guys this season," head coach Phil McNichol said, "so we'd like to get things back on track. Bode and the others have had great training so there's a bit of a shootout element here as they try to get that slalom right for Worlds. It should be interesting."
    The World Championships open on Saturday with men's super G and continue through Feb. 18.