By Martyn Herman
BORMIO, Italy, Feb 5 (Reuters) – American Ryan Cochran-Siegle says he will watch re-runs of compatriot Bode Miller’s 2005 world championships heroics down the Stelvio for inspiration as he prepares for Saturday’s Olympic men’s downhill on the iconic Italian slope.
Miller blasted to victory in the downhill and super-G races 21 years ago but in the downhill section of the combined event his ski flew off after landing a jump near the top and he famously made it almost to the bottom on his remaining ski.
His victory on the Stelvio in 2007 remains the last time an American won a downhill in Bormio — a wait the 33-year-old Cochran-Siegle would dearly love to end this week.
“I haven’t watched that in a while. It’s funny. I was actually talking about it this morning, saying how Bodie’s 2005 run, everyone remembers when his ski came off in the combined, but it was actually the day before when he won the world champs downhill,” Cochran-Siegle said on Thursday.
“That (downhill) was like actually one of those legendary runs. So I’ll probably have to go back and watch it. Bodie as an athlete, especially as an American man, he set such a precedent for just reaching for the ultimate level.
“I always grew up idolising him. I got to overlap him a little bit when I was super young on the ski team and he was still racing. And he’s definitely, I mean, he’s a personality. He is so athletic, such a unique vision too.”
Miller is the most successful American male skier of all time and arguably the best all-rounder the world has seen with 33 World Cup wins spread across every discipline, four world titles and an Olympic super combined gold in 2010.
“I think you can still see that impact even today. I just listened to Mikaela (Shiffrin’s) podcast with Bodie a week ago, and it was an awesome listen. I’ve been trying to kind of like key in on that as well and those ideas,” Cochran-Siegle said.
Cochran-Siegle has only one World Cup victory but it happened on the Stelvio in a super-G in 2020.
He set the fastest time in the first training run for the Olympic downhill on Wednesday and is in fine form heading into Saturday after a podium on Sunday in Crans Montana.
It augurs well for his chances on Saturday although he said he prefers to stay under the radar.
“There’s a lot of outside noise, I think, yesterday, being fast in the training run,” he said. “Luckily, I was a lot slower today. Hopefully, that’s kind of tuned down, been muted out, and just allowed me to go and focus.
“But, I think all of us recognise there’s an opportunity, and we all want to perform our best. And I think just going out and honestly not knowing what’s going to happen, I think is exciting as well.”
(Reporting by Martyn HermanEditing by Toby Davis)
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