Marilyn Cochran

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Marilyn Cochran
Alpine skier
Disciplines Downhill, Giant Slalom, Slalom, Combined
Club University of Vermont
Born (1950-02-07) February 7, 1950 (age 71)
Burlington, Vermont, U.S.
Height5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
World Cup debutMarch 1968 (age 18)
RetiredMarch 1974 (age 24)
Olympics
Teams1 – (1972)
Medals0
World Championships
Teams3 – (1970, 1972, 1974)
   includes Olympics
Medals1 (0 gold)
World Cup
Seasons6 – (196974)
Wins3 – (1 GS, 2 SL)
Podiums15 – (9 GS, 6 SL)
Overall titles0 – (8th in 1973)
Discipline titles1 – (GS, 1969)
Medal record

Marilyn Cochran Brown (born February 5, 1950) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from the United States.

Contents

The eldest of four siblings of the "Skiing Cochrans" family of Richmond, Vermont, she became the first American to win a discipline championship in the World Cup, triumphing in giant slalom at age 19 in 1969. [1] The next year, she won a bronze medal in the combined at the World Championships. [2]

Racing career

Born in Burlington, Vermont, Cochran and her younger sister Barbara (b.1951) joined the U.S. Ski Team in 1967. She made her World Cup debut at age 18 in March 1968, a month after the Winter Olympics, with a pair of top ten finishes at the season's final stop in Aspen, Colorado. Brother Bob (b. 1951) joined the men's "A team" for the 1970 season and the three siblings competed on the World Cup tour through the 1974 season.

Marilyn was a three-time U.S. national champion during her career. In the 1969 season, she finished runner-up in the final five giant slalom races and won the World Cup season title. [1] Cochran was the only American alpine racer with a World Cup season title until 1980, when Phil Mahre won the combined. She won the bronze medal in the combined at the 1970 World Championships in Val Gardena, Italy. [2] Sister Barbara was fourth in that competition, but won a silver in the slalom, where Marilyn was sixth. [3]

Cochran won three World Cup races, two in giant slalom and one in slalom, and had 15 podiums and fifty top ten finishes. The first victory came in February 1971 close to home, in Quebec at Mont St. Anne, with sister Barbara as runner-up. [4] She competed in all three events at the Winter Olympics in 1972 in Japan, but with disappointing results: 28th in downhill, 20th in giant slalom, and a fall in the first run of the slalom, the race won by her sister. At the World Championships in 1974 in Switzerland, she finished eighth in giant slalom, and retired from international competition after the season.

After racing

After her racing career, Cochran attended the University of Vermont in Burlington in and graduated in 1979. She married Chris Brown, an All-American racer at the university and later a professor of mechanical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Their son Roger Brown, a 2004 graduate of Dartmouth College, was also an All-American. He was the 2002 NCAA slalom champion and competed on the U.S. Ski Team. Younger son Douglas Brown was captain of the ski team at St. Lawrence University, and graduated in 2009.

Cochran was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1978. Sister Barbara (1976) and brother Bob (2010) are also members of the hall. Cochran also joined her siblings Barbara (2013) and Bob (2014) as members of the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.

World Cup results

Season titles

SeasonDiscipline
1969 Giant Slalom

Season standings

SeasonAgeOverallSlalomGiant
Slalom
Super GDownhillCombined
1968 18423518not
run
not
run
1969 191111120
1970 2013101115
1971 211110811
1972 221211523
1973 2389721
1974 242311

Points were only awarded for top ten finishes (see scoring system).

Race podiums

SeasonDateLocationDisciplinePlace
1969 4 Jan 1969 Flag of Germany.svg Oberstaufen, West Germany Slalom 3rd
9 Feb 1969 Flag of Italy.svg Vipiteno, Italy Giant Slalom 2nd
17 Feb 1969 Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Vysoké Tatry, Czechoslovakia Giant Slalom2nd
1 Mar 1969 Flag of the United States.svg Squaw Valley, CA, USA Giant Slalom2nd
14 Mar 1969 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Mont St. Anne, QC, Canada Giant Slalom2nd
20 Mar 1969 Flag of the United States.svg Waterville Valley, NH, USAGiant Slalom2nd
1970 6 Jan 1970  Flag of Switzerland.svg Grindelwald, Switzerland Slalom3rd
1971 13 Feb 1971 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Mont St. Anne, QC, CanadaSlalom1st
14 Mar 1971 Flag of Sweden.svg Åre, Sweden Giant Slalom2nd
1972 3 Jan 1972 Flag of Germany.svg Oberstaufen, West GermanyGiant Slalom3rd
3 Mar 1972 Flag of the United States.svg Heavenly Valley, CA, USASlalom3rd
1973 21 Jan 1973 Flag of France.svg Les Contamines, France Slalom3rd
26 Jan 1973 Flag of France.svg Chamonix, FranceSlalom1st
15 Mar 1973 Flag of Japan.svg Naeba, Japan Giant Slalom1st
1974 7 Dec 1973 Flag of France.svg Val-d'Isère, FranceSlalom3rd

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "Austrian skier tops U.S. gals". Schenectady Gazette. Associated Press. March 21, 1969. p. 27.
  2. 1 2 "Sports scoreboard: skiing". Eugene Register-Guard. February 15, 1970. p. 4B.
  3. "Sports whirl". Virgin Islands Daily. Associated Press. February 14, 1970. p. 16.
  4. "Sisters one-two in world ski cup". Reading Eagle. Associated Press. February 14, 1971. p. 66.