Sullivan Strong in Lake Louise Downhill
LAKE LOUISE, AB (Nov. 29) – Marco Sullivan was the American to watch in Saturday’s downhill, holding the top step of the podium for 13 racers, before finally finishing in fifth place. Wednesday’s training run-winner Kjetil Jansrud of Norway squeaked a first place by Manuel Osborne-Paradis and Guillermo Fayed, who tied for second. It was Sullivan's best finish in two seasons, since skiing to the podium in Lake Louise in 2012.
The men’s speed team was in Lake Louise for the first speed series of the season with five U.S. Ski Team racers starting: Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley, CA), Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, CA), Steve Nyman (Sundance, UT), Jared Goldberg (Holladay, UT) and Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, CA).
“I knew it was going to be good snow and I needed to take advantage of that early start number. I didn’t feel the fastest, but I was clean the whole way,” said Sullivan. “I’m one of the veteran guys now and I’m just feeling comfortable racing these days. Nothing is holding me back.”
Athletes praised the course set, which was full of bigger jumps and higher speed than years past. Even with the snowfall cancelling the last two training runs, the track was fast and hard, with temperatures dipping into the negatives.
Travis Ganong also skied a solid race, tying for tenth place. In addition, the U.S. athletes had two notable bibbos: Steve Nyman started 44th and finished 16th, and Wiley Maple wore bib 56th and ended up 22nd.
Rounding out the athletes, Jared Goldberg finished 35th and Bryce Bennett in 56th place.
Sunday’s super G race will be broadcast and streamed live by Universal Sports, beginning at 1:00 p.m. EST.
QUOTES
Marco Sullivan
I knew it was going to be good snow and I needed to take advantage of that early number. Even though it felt a little slow, I just knew I had to keep fighting the whole way. I had good turns and it was a solid run.
I love starting here at Lake Louise. It’s a nice break-in race. It’s not the most difficult track we have and you can just go full-guns from start to finish. It’s high intensity to get the race season going. I’ve had good success here in the past and I have confidence. I’m one of the veteran guys and I’m comfortable racing these days. My body feels good. Nothing is holding me back.
On another note, my uncle Sully has been my ski coach forever and he has cancer and is pretty sick. I was thinking a lot about him today.
Sasha Rearick, Head Coach
It was a good team day. Great to see Sparky – old Marco Sullivan – bring out the ol’ fire…charging down the mountain. It was really sweet. Skied well too. Great to see Travis pump in there with a good time, skied really well at the bottom down from coaches to the bottom of Gun Barrel. Really good skiing. Nice to see him coming into form. Hat’s off to Wiley Maple, who was charging top to bottom, taking some risks but also executing some things he worked on this summer. Steven Nyman was charging hard too, had a little bobble at the bottom on the flat which cost him some time. But he’s skiing well and it’s good to see him bring that kind of intensity into the race.
RESULTS
Official results
