Sullivan is Top American in Delayed Downhill

GARMISCH, Germany (Feb. 28, 2015)—After over two hours of delays, the race organizers were finally able to squeak one last downhill into February. Fighting flat light and typical thick fog on the Garmisch Kandahar, Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley, CA) was the top American downhiller of the day, finishing in sixth place.

It was an Austrian-dominated day, with Hannes Reichelt winning the race, Romed Baumann in second and Matthias Mayer in third. This is the second Austrian downhill podium sweep in a row, with Mayer, Max Franz and Reichelt taking first, second and third in Saalbach.

Even after hours of delays, the snow was fairly consistent—with 140 volunteers working Friday night until 10 p.m. and starting again at 4 a.m. But because of the light conditions, the track was shortened—beginning at the super G start—which did not suit the classic downhillers usually favored on the Garmisch hill.

Marco Sullivan grabs a bullet in the Garmisch downhill. (Mitch Gunn)

The shortened course didn’t seem to faze Marco Sullivan (although he said going from the super G start “kind of neuters the race a little bit”), who was eighth in the second training run. Starting 23rd, he attacked the whole way down and took sixth place behind the dominating Austrians. This is his best result since his fifth place finish in Lake Louise in November.

“The race was so tight. I think a tenth—one way or the other—would have cost me five places,” said Sullivan. “It’s crazy. It was go-for-broke. Luckily, I skied it pretty cleanly, didn’t have any big mistakes and had a good result.

Steven Nyman (Sundance, UT), who was fourth in the training run, looked for speed throughout his run, but was bucked around on the tricky, shortened course and took 17th. Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, CA) was 22nd, behind a three-way tie for 19th. Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, NY) was 33rd and Wiley Maple (Aspen, CO) 45th. Garmisch first timers Jared Goldberg (Holladay, UT) and Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, CA) were 36th and 48th, respectively.

Universal Sports Network will air the race at 1:00 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. EST.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The downhill was shortened, beginning at the super G start, due to heavy fog.
• Prior to this race, Sullivan had never finished better than 19th in Garmisch.
• This is Sullivan’s second-best result of the season—after his fifth place in Lake Louise in November. He was 19th in Saalbach.
• A giant slalom takes place on Sunday, with first run streaming on Universal Sports at 4:30 a.m. and second run at 7:30 a.m. EST.
• The speed team next heads to Kvitfjell, Norway.

QUOTES
Marco Sullivan
It was typical Garmisch weather. We’ve been battling this fog pretty much every time we’ve been here for the last five years. It was a day where you just had to stay focused through all the delays. I had an inkling that we would run eventually. It was a bummer that we had to go from the super G start. It kind of neuters the race a little bit. The top section is really fun, as well. For me personally, I’ve had good training run. I know I’ve skied well. Where the start was, I was just going to ski as hard as I could. That’s what I did.

The race was so tight. I think a tenth—one way or the other—would have cost me five places. It’s crazy. It was go-for-broke. Luckily, I skied it pretty cleanly, didn’t have any big mistakes and had a good result.

Steven Nyman
In ski racing, this happens. I think it was the second time this year. You just gotta be ready for it—ready to wait around all day and then ready to search for every little bit of speed you can. As you can see, hundredths make the difference. It was won by one one-hundredth. Those guys were obviously elite over everybody else, but then after that, it is so tight. Any little mistake bumps you back five, 10 places. My mistake was off the last jump—I lost a few tenths on the bottom. There was another mistake off the third to last jump, so you just gotta search for speed.

Marco was clean and charged. I’m proud of him to get sixth place. Hopefully he’s stoked on it too. I think he’s figured some stuff out. He’s really been searching these past few weeks. I think there’s a lot of confidence there right now. We’ve got some good things rolling into Kvitfjell.

RESULTS
Official results