Optimistic Ganong Eighth in Downhill
KVITFJELL, Norway (Feb. 24, 2017) – Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, CA) felt all the good sensations of solid run in Friday’s Audi FIS Ski World Cup downhill, a make-up race from the canceled December event at Lake Louise, Canada, leading the U.S. in eighth place.
Slovenia’s Bostjan Kline took his first career World Cup victory Friday, nipping Austria’s Matthias Mayer by just 0.19 seconds and Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud by 0.20 in second and third respectively.
Seeing and feeling the course are the two critical components of good ski racing. So when one sensation goes wrong, the other sensation of a finely tuned athlete usually picks up the slack. For Ganong, he felt like he put down a great run Friday, and indeed he did, but the seeing part didn’t go so well.
“I skied really well and it easily could have been a winning run,” Ganong said. “But on the third gate, I hit the gate and got snow in my goggles somehow. So it was like I was skiing in a blizzard. Every time I would hit a bump, the snow would go up and down inside my goggles. It was just kind of distracting the whole way down. But it was still really good skiing.”
Jared Goldberg (Holladay, UT) put down his second top-20 result of the season, finishing 14th. Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, CA) and Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, NY) also snuck into the points, finishing 27th and 30th respectively. Brennan Rubie (Salt Lake City, UT) was 43rd and Tommy Biesemeyer (Keene, NY) was 49th.
Austria’s Marcel Hirscher, who did not race Friday, continues to lead the overall World cup standings with 1,275 points. Jansrud overtook Italy’s Peter Fill in the overall World Cup downhill standings with his second-place finish. Jansrud (307 points) leads Fill (294), who finished 16th Friday, by 13 points.
Up next, the men race another downhill Saturday in Kvitfjell, followed by super G on Sunday.
“Tomorrow if I can avoid stuff like (snow in goggles) and have a solid top-to-bottom run, I think I can do really well,” Ganong said.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Travis Ganong finished eighth in Friday’s downhill, a makeup from the canceled race event at Lake Louise, Canada.
- Slovenia’s Bostjan Kline took his first career World Cup victory Friday.
- Jared Goldberg (Holladay, UT) put down his second top-20 result of the season, finishing 14th.
- Bryce Bennett was 27th; Andrew Weibrecht 30th; Brennan Rubie 43rd; and Tommy Biesemeyer 49th.
- Road to Aspen: Austria’s Marcel Hirscher, who did not race Friday, continues to lead the overall World cup standings with 1,275 points. Kjetil Jansrud overtook Italy’s Peter Fill in the overall World Cup downhill standings with his second-place finish. Jansrud (307 points) leads Fill (294), who finished 16th Friday, by 13 points.
QUOTES
Travis Ganong
I skied really well and it easily could have been a winning run. But on the third gate, I hit the gate and got snow in my goggles somehow. So it was like I was skiing in a blizzard. Every time I would hit a bump, the snow would go up and down inside my goggles. It was just kind of distracting the whole way down. But it was still really good skiing.
Tomorrow if I can avoid stuff like (snow in goggles) and have a solid top-to-bottom run, I think I can do really well.
BROADCAST AND LIVE STREAMING (times EST)
All events streaming at www.nbcsports.com/live
Friday, Feb. 24
6:00 p.m. – men’s downhill – Universal HD
Saturday, Feb. 25
6:00 a.m. – men’s downhill – nbcsports.com/live – LIVE STREAM
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
