Goldberg Leads USA in World Champs Downhill

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (Feb. 12, 2017) – Jared Goldberg (Holladay, UT) led the Americans at the makeup day for the Audi FIS Alpine World Ski Championships downhill, taking 20th.

Beat Feuz of Switzerland, who won the downhill and super G test events at St. Moritz during the 2015-16 season, secured the gold medal in front of the hometown crowd. Canadian Erik Guay continued his dominant week in St. Moritz to take silver and Max Franz of Austria took bronze.

The day started out with similar weather to Saturday’s postponed downhill—a thick layer of fog hovering in the middle of the course. But as the day went on, the cloud lifted, leaving brilliant sunshine sparkling on the World Championships track.

Due to the early weather, the downhill start was lowered, but that didn’t restrict the men from catching huge air off the jumps.

“I tried as hard as I could to be fast down the hill,” said Goldberg. “Having the start moved down—it was definitely a strength of mine to have the top part… Today the speed was lower and it came more into gliding. These guys are veterans and have been doing it for 10 or more years than me, so I was just trying to be as close as I could to them.”

Behind Goldberg, Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, CA) was 25th, Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, CA) 26th and Tommy Biesemeyer (Keene, NY) 29th.

Next at the World Championships is an alpine combined on Monday. Stream the full event live on NBCsports.com/live starting at 4:00 a.m. ET or watch the slalom run of the combined live on NBCSN at 6:30 a.m. ET.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Jared Goldberg was the top American in 20th.
• Noticeably missing from the action was American Downhiller Steven Nyman (Sundance, UT), who injured his knee prior to the World Championships. It is his 35th birthday.
• Watch the replay of the downhill at 2:00 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
• Next up at St. Moritz, the men race an alpine combined on Monday. 

QUOTES

Jared Goldberg
[On key tactics]
It was important to] get a really low aerodynamic position, and trying to hold that the whole way down. The speed was a lot lower today because we went from the combined start. Stay in that low bullet and go for it and trying to cut off line when you can.

I tried as hard as I could to be fast down the hill. Having the start moved down—it was definitely a strength of mine to have the top part. It kind of psyches some guys out and I feel totally comfortable going down something like that. That was definitely a way to make more speed on these guys. Today the speed was lower and it came more into gliding. These guys are veterans and have been doing it for 10 or more years than me, so I was just trying to be as close as I could to them.

Bryce Bennett
It’s been tough this whole week, just getting the races pushed back. You have to be mentally ready for whatever happens with the conditions. But we got it off.

I was trying to carry some more velocity. When I get out of position, aerodynamically it’s really slow. I’m a big guy. Just try and keep it tight was the plan and I thought I did a pretty good job.

Since the course has been worked on by all the volunteers, it’s in really good shape. The snow is super smooth—super dense and firm and you can push wherever you want.

BROADCAST + LIVE STREAMING (times EST)

Sunday, Feb. 12
12:30 p.m. – women’s downhill – NBC
2:00 p.m. – men’s downhill – NBCSN

Monday, Feb. 13
4:00 a.m. – men’s alpine combined, downhill run – nbcsports.com/live – LIVE STREAM
6:30 a.m. – men’s alpine combined – NBCSN – LIVE
11:00 a.m. – men’s alpine combined (encore) – NBCSN

Tuesday, Feb. 14
6:00 a.m. – team event – NBCSN – LIVE
11:00 a.m. – team event (encore) – NBCSN

Thursday, Feb. 16 
3:45 a.m. – women’s giant slalom, run 1 – nbcsports.com/live – LIVE STREAM
7:00 a.m. – women’s giant slalom, run 2 – NBCSN – LIVE
10:30 a.m. – women’s giant slalom, run 2 (encore) – NBCSN

Friday, Feb. 17
1:00 a.m. – women’s giant slalom, run 2 (encore) – NBCSN
3:45 a.m. – men’s giant slalom, run 1 – nbcsports.com/live – LIVE STREAM
7:00 a.m. – men’s giant slalom, run 2 – NBCSN – LIVE
10:30 a.m. – men’s giant slalom, run 2 (encore) – NBCSN

Saturday, Feb. 18
3:45 a.m. – women’s slalom, run 1 – nbcsports.com/live – LIVE STREAM
7:00 a.m. – women’s slalom, run 2 – nbcsports.com/live – LIVE STREAM
1:00 p.m. – women’s slalom, run 2 – NBC

Sunday, Feb. 19 
3:45 a.m. – men’s slalom, run 1 – nbcsports.com/live – LIVE STREAM
7:00 a.m. – men’s slalom, run 2 – NBCSN – LIVE

RESULTS
Men’s downhill