Winter Park, CO – Tommy Ford, of Bend, Ore., captured his fourth straight U.S. title with a giant slalom victory to open the Putnam Investments U.S. Alpine Championships held last Thursday in Winter Park.nFord swept the giant slalom, slalom and super combined titles at the 2010 U.S. Championships. Reno, Nev.’s Tim Jitloff was second followed by 2011 World Champion and World Cup giant slalom title winner Ted Ligety, of Park City, Utah, in extremely soft snow conditions. Heavy overnight snow made for challenging conditions with ruts forming early.

“I knew it was going to be little rough coming into it so I just tried to remember the old days and put it into the rut as early as I can and stay as fluid as possible. It’s hard to have a clean run in those conditions, but I did well with it,” Ford said. “Ted’s [Ligety] been skiing well all year and I’ve been struggling a little bit. It’s just nice to end on that note but the conditions were a little different than what were used to racing on, but he is still a good skier.”

Ligety signed hundreds of autographs following the race in the Putnam Investments tent. “Tommy’s a tough skier so there’s no surprise that he won,” Ligety said. “Nationals are fun. It’s cool for the young guys to be able to race against guys like myself and Julia. I definitely enjoyed that when I was younger – being able to ski against guys like Bode [Miller] and Daron [Rahlves].

“I took a bunch of the Park City Ski Club kids through course inspection,” Ligety added. “Those guys we’re excited to take a look at a course – I guess that was the highlight of the day really.”

Top junior honors went to Ryan Cochran-Siegle, of Starksboro, Vt., whose uncle Bobby Cochran was inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame on Saturday.

“I think nationals are one of the coolest things out there. The past couple years it has been my goal to get here so getting here has been awesome,” said an enthused Cochran-Siegle. “I love that everyone, boys and girls, Ted [Ligety], Julia [Mancuso], Tommy Ford and Nolan [Kasper], are all here, I think it’s a great event to end the season well. It helps me see the next step as a skier.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Putnam Investments U.S. Alpine Championships
Winter Park, CO – March 31, 2011
Giant Slalom

1. Tommy Ford, Bend, OR, 2:22.24
2. Tim Jitloff, Reno, NV, 2:22.33
3. Ted Ligety, Park City, UT, 2:22.54