Cochran’s First Slalom Win Continues Family Success

Jimmy Cochran furthered his family’s skiing legacy by winning his first national title Sunday in the men’s slalom in the U.S. Alpine Championships at Girdwood, Alaska.

Cochran, part of the U.S. “C” team, led by .38 of a second after the first run and increased it after his second run to finish with a combined time of 1:31.91, beating Jesse Marshall (1:32.51) and Chip Knight (1:32.89).

Cochran is the son of former Olympian and World Cup racer Bob Cochran, and his aunts Barbara, Marilyn and Lindy are also World Cup and Olympic veterans.

Barbara won the 1972 Olympic slalom gold and Marilyn was the 1969 World Cup giant slalom champion. His grandfather, Mickie Cochran, was the U.S. Alpine coach in the early 1970s.

Lindsey Kildow, who won the super-giant slalom Saturday one day after a fall in the downhill left her woozy with a slight concussion, easily won the women’s slalom. She finished with a combined time of 1:35.53. Julia Mancuso was second in 1:36.01, followed by Katy Hitchcock (1:36.92).

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Todd Lodwick recorded his third title of the weekend, winning the large hill event in front of hometown fans in the U.S. Ski Jumping Championships at Steamboat Springs, Colo.

Lodwick, a three-time Olympic Nordic combined skier who won the Nordic combined and normal hill events Saturday, had jumps of 119.5 and 122 meters for 253.8 points on the 112-meter hill.

Olympic teammate Johnny Spillane, also of Steamboat Springs, took the silver with jumps of 117 and 118.5 meters for 244.0 points.

Lindsey Van of Park City, Utah, won her second U.S. women’s title of the weekend. She had jumps of 106 and 111 meters for 206.7 points.

The silver medalist was Jessica Jerome, also of Park City.

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Ahn Hyun-soo and Choi Eun-kyung retained their overall titles in the world short-track championships at Goteberg, Sweden. In all, South Koreans won seven of the eight individual gold medals over the weekend, three more than they earned at last year’s event.

Ahn won the men’s 1,000 and 3,000 meters. He won the 3,000 in 5:03.670, finishing more than nine seconds ahead of teammate Song Suk-woo.

Ahn won the 1,000 in 1:26.813, edging China’s Li Jiajun (1:27.162).

Choi led a Korean 1-2 finish in the women’s 1,000, clocking 1:34.724. Byun Chun-sa was second (1:34.806).

Ahn topped the final men’s overall standings with 102 points, ahead of Song (68) and Li (29). Choi led the women’s standings with 84 points

Miscellany

Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia won the men’s 12-kilometer race in the world cross-country championships at Brussels, taking the short and long-course titles for an unprecedented third straight year.

Bekele finished in 35:52, beating Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam by 18 seconds.

In the women’s four-kilometer race, Edith Masai won her third straight gold medal, the only individual title for Kenya during the two-day event. She was timed in 13:07, beating Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba by two seconds.

U.S. boxers in seven weight categories earned berths on the Olympic team in an America’s Qualifier at Tijuana, which concluded over the weekend.

Rau’Shee Warren (106 pounds), Ron Siler (112), Vicente Escobedo (132), Vanes Martirosyan (152), Andre Dirrell (165), Andre Ward (178) and Devin Vargas (heavyweight) join Jason Estrada (super-heavyweight), who had qualified for the Athens Olympics at last summer’s Pan Am Games.

USC’s national champion football and women’s volleyball teams are scheduled to leave today for Washington, where they will be honored at the White House on Tuesday.