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Bennett 9th, Cochran-Siegle 12th in Powder Day Downhill

By Tom Horrocks
February, 9 2019
Ryan Cochran-Siegle
Ryan Cochran-Siegle came out of the 35th start position to finish 12th in Saturday’s World Championship downhill. (Getty Images/AFP - Fabrice Coffrini)

It was a challenging day as Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, Calif.) and Ryan Cochran-Siegle (Starksboro, Vt.) led the way for the U.S. Ski Team in the men’s downhill at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Saturday in Are, Sweden.

With moderate snowfall and fog, race organizers postponed the start of the race by an hour, but conditions didn’t improve much once the first athlete kicked out of the start house.

“Obviously they made the call because (Sunday’s) conditions aren’t going to be any better,” said Bennett, who was the top-placed American in ninth. “It was safe, but I’ve never skied a downhill like that before. You couldn’t really see the track, it was like an inch or two of powder everywhere…it just wasn’t that fast.”

“Today was, I think for everyone, it was a really challenging day,” added Cochran-Siegle, who finished 12th coming out of the 35th start position. “Tough for the early guys who had that stop-start...to deal with. And I think for us, there was a pretty good amount of snow coming down by the time the later guys ran. We all had tough conditions.”

Norway swept the gold and silver medals with Kjetil Jansrud edging out his teammate Aksel Lund Svindal, who was competing in his final race after announcing his retirement last month, by a mere .02 seconds. Austria’s Vincent Kriechmayr came out of the 17th start position to take the bronze.

“It’s pretty cool to see the way it ended with Aksel in the podium with his best bud,” said Steven Nyman (Sundance, Utah), who finished 23rd. “That’s a pretty impressive way to end it. That’s cool to watch, but I wish I was up there.”

While it was a challenging day for many, and a triumphant day for a few, there were some positive takeaways for Bennett and Cochran-Siegle.

“It comes down to execution I did some parts well,” Bennett said. “I was having a hard time seeing what I needed to do this week and I spent a decent amount of time last night watching video, and I think it paid off alright. I’m happy with today.”

“I’m really happy with my skiing,” Cochran-Siegle added. “I feel like my plan going the race was trying to nail a couple sections and ski well, and I feel like I really did that, which is cool to do at such a big event.”

Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, Calif.), the 2015 World Championship downhill silver medalists, finished 26th.

Up next, the 2019 World Championships continue with Lindsey Vonn’s final race in the women’s downhill Sunday. On Monday, the men will compete in alpine combined.

RESULTS
Men’s World Championships downhill

HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
*Same-day broadcast
**Next-day broadcast

Saturday, Feb. 9
3:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBC*
6:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBCSN*

Sunday, Feb. 10
6:30 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s downhill - Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, NBCSN, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
3:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBC*
10:30 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s downhill - Are, SWE - NBCSN*

Monday, Feb. 11
5:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships combined downhill - Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:30 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships combined downhill - Are, SWE - NBCSN*
8:30 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships combined slalom - Are, SWE - NBCSN, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold

Tuesday, Feb. 12
9:55 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships team event - Are, SWE - NBCSN, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold

Thursday, Feb. 14
8:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s giant slalom run 1 - Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
10:30 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s giant slalom run 2 - Are, SWE - NBCSN, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold

Friday, Feb. 15
8:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s giant slalom run 1 - Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
11:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s giant slalom run 2 - Are, SWE - NBCSN, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold

Saturday, Feb. 16
5:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s slalom run 1 - Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s slalom run 1 - Are, SWE - NBCSN*
8:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s slalom run 2 - Are, SWE - NBCSN OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
1:00 p.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships women’s slalom - Are, SWE - NBC*

Sunday, Feb. 17
5:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s slalom run 1 - Are, SWE - Olympic Channel-TV, OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s slalom run 1 - Are, SWE - NBCSN*
8:00 a.m. - FIS World Alpine Championships men’s slalom run 2 - Are, SWE - NBCSN OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold

All streams are available via desktop (NBCSports.com/Live, NBCSports.com/Gold andOlympicChannel.com) as well as mobile, tablet and connected television platforms. The NBC Sports app, NBC Sports Gold app and Olympic Channel app are available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV and Amazon Fire. Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass.