‘Crazy Fast’ Turn Dings Ganong in Downhill

KVITFJELL, Norway (Feb. 25, 2017) – One “crazy fast” turn got Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, CA) off on the wrong foot in Saturday’s Audi FIS Ski World Cup downhill won by Norway’s home-crowd favorite Kjetil Jansrud.

Running the full-length 1994 Olympic downhill course, Jansrud edged out Italy’s Peter Fill by just 0.08 seconds. Switzerland’s Beat Fuez was third. Ganong was 17^th, as Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, CA) was the only other American in the points, finishing 19^th.

“It was really fast, compared to the training runs starting at the top,” said Ganong, who finished eighth in Friday’s downhill run on the same track, but from a lower start position. “I knew the speeds would be faster going into the first turn, but they were way fast, like crazy fast, so I missed the timing completely on that first left-footed turn. I lost over eight-tenths to Jansrud in the first split, and I was only a second back at the finish, so just that one turn was my day.”

The rest of the Americans also struggled on the cold, hard track. Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, NY) finished 41^st and Jared Goldberg (Holladay, UT) did not finish following a scary crash after flying off a jump and into the safety netting. Goldberg was standing following the incident, but was taken off the mountain on a sled as a precautionary measure.

Up next, the men race super G Sunday in Kvitfjell. Watch it live on NBCSports.com at 6 a.m. EST.

“My coach (Alex Hoedlmoser) is setting, so we’ll see what happens (tomorrow),” Ganong added.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud, who finished third in Friday’s downhill, won Saturday in front of the home-country crowd.
• Italy’s Peter Fill was second, followed by Switzerland’s Beat Fuez in third.
• Travis Ganong was 17^th, as Bryce Bennett was the only other American in the points, finishing 19^th.
• Road to Aspen: Austria’s Marcel Hirscher, who did not race Saturday, continues to lead the overall World cup standings with 1,275 points. Jansrud is fourth overall with 835 points and leads the overall downhill standings with 407 points. Italy’s Peter Fill is second with 374 points.

QUOTES
Travis Ganong
It was really fast, compared to the training runs starting at the top. I knew the speeds would be faster going into the first turn, but they were way fast, like crazy fast, so I missed the timing completely on that first left-footed turn. I lost over eight-tenths to Jansrud in the first split, and I was only a second back at the finish, so just that one turn was my day.

My coach is setting, so we’ll see what happens (tomorrow).

BROADCAST AND LIVE STREAMING (times EST)
All events streaming at www.nbcsports.com/live

Saturday, Feb. 25
3:30 p.m. – men’s downhill – Universal HD

Sunday, Feb. 26
6:00 a.m. – men’s slalom, super G – nbcsports.com/live – LIVE STREAM
7:00 p.m. – men’s super G – Universal HD

RESULTS
Men’s downhill