{"id":802030,"date":"2019-12-05T12:56:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-05T19:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/americans-have-high-hopes-for-birds-of-prey\/"},"modified":"2019-12-05T12:56:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-05T19:56:00","slug":"americans-have-high-hopes-for-birds-of-prey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/americans-have-high-hopes-for-birds-of-prey\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans have high hopes for Birds of Prey"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.8047210300429\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-375521-382\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/12\/Americans-VDN-120519-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/12\/Americans-VDN-120519-1-1024x665.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Chris Dillmann \/ cdillmann@vaildaily.com | American Travis Ganong flies over Red Tail during the downhill training for the Xfinity Birds of Prey Audi FIS Ski World Cup on Wednesday in Beaver Creek. Ganong feels he's back to 100% after tearing his ACL in Bormio, Italy, in December 2017.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>American Travis Ganong flies over Red Tail during the downhill training for the Xfinity Birds of Prey Audi FIS Ski World Cup on Wednesday in Beaver Creek. Ganong feels he&#8217;s back to 100% after tearing his ACL in Bormio, Italy, in December 2017.<\/strong><br \/>Chris Dillmann \/ cdillmann@vaildaily.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/12\/Americans-VDN-120519-1-1024x665.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"American Travis Ganong flies over Red Tail during the downhill training for the Xfinity Birds of Prey Audi FIS Ski World Cup on Wednesday in Beaver Creek. Ganong feels he's back to 100% after tearing his ACL in Bormio, Italy, in December 2017.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/12\/Americans-VDN-120519-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/12\/Americans-VDN-120519-1-1-1024x662.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Chris Dillmann \/ cdillmann@vaildaily.com | American Bryce Bennett, who finished seventh in the World Cup points in downhill last season, gets in his during Wednesday\u2019s Xfinity Birds of Prey Audi FIS Ski World Cup training run on Wednesday in Beaver Creek. The downhill race is 11 a.m. on Saturday.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>American Bryce Bennett, who finished seventh in the World Cup points in downhill last season, gets in his during Wednesday\u2019s Xfinity Birds of Prey Audi FIS Ski World Cup training run on Wednesday in Beaver Creek. The downhill race is 11 a.m. on Saturday.<\/strong><br \/>Chris Dillmann \/ cdillmann@vaildaily.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/12\/Americans-VDN-120519-1-1-1024x662.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"American Bryce Bennett, who finished seventh in the World Cup points in downhill last season, gets in his during Wednesday\u2019s Xfinity Birds of Prey Audi FIS Ski World Cup training run on Wednesday in Beaver Creek. The downhill race is 11 a.m. on Saturday.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/12\/Americans-VDN-120519-1-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/12\/Americans-VDN-120519-1-2-1024x708.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Chris Dillmann | cdillmann@vaildaily.com | Steven Nyman is back after two years\u2019 worth of injuries. The American veteran has three podium finishes at Birds of Prey.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Steven Nyman is back after two years\u2019 worth of injuries. The American veteran has three podium finishes at Birds of Prey.<\/strong><br \/>Chris Dillmann | cdillmann@vaildaily.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/12\/Americans-VDN-120519-1-2-1024x708.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Steven Nyman is back after two years\u2019 worth of injuries. The American veteran has three podium finishes at Birds of Prey.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/12\/Americans-VDN-120519-1-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/12\/Americans-VDN-120519-1-3-1024x676.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Chris Dillmann \/ cdillmann@vaildaily.com | Ryan Cochran-Siegle tucks during downhill training Wednesday in Beaver Creek. Cochran-Siegle took the top training time.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Ryan Cochran-Siegle tucks during downhill training Wednesday in Beaver Creek. Cochran-Siegle took the top training time.<\/strong><br \/>Chris Dillmann \/ cdillmann@vaildaily.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/12\/Americans-VDN-120519-1-3-1024x676.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Ryan Cochran-Siegle tucks during downhill training Wednesday in Beaver Creek. Cochran-Siegle took the top training time.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/americans-have-high-hopes-for-birds-of-prey\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/americans-have-high-hopes-for-birds-of-prey\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">BEAVER CREEK \u2014 Pop quiz: Who was the last American to win at Beaver Creek?<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">It\u2019s not Ted Ligety because Mikaela Shiffrin won here at the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in slalom the day after Ted won giant slalom.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Technicalities aside, it\u2019s been a while for the Americans on their home snow, but the red, white and blue hopes to change things at the 2019 Xfinity Birds of Prey FIS World Cup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Ryan Cochran-Siegle (Starksboro, Vermont) did the honors with the fastest time in downhill training Wednesday with a time of 1 minute, 41.37 seconds, ahead of Norway\u2019s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (1:41.61) and Austria\u2019s Matthias Mayer (1:41.67).<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Of course, \u201cwinning\u201d training only means something if things go well on race day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI was surprised. I had fast training runs in Lake Louise, (Alberta), too, and I don\u2019t think my results come out well,\u201d Cochran-Siegle said. \u201cToday, I was just trying to take the run kinda easy. By the time you get to The Brink, it doesn\u2019t turn out that way \u2014 you have to go full send. I was just trying to stay ahead of it and flow with the terrain. \u2026 I think I skied well today. That\u2019s about it. Race day is a totally different ball game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Perhaps, the difference is that the U.S. Men\u2019s Ski Team starts the ball game healthy, and it hopes the results will follow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">Under the knife<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Particularly on the speed side of the team, the Americans were a M.A.S.H. unit last season. Travis Ganong (Lake Tahoe, California) did his ACL in Bormio, Italy, in December 2017.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">A two-time World Cup downhill winner and a silver-medalist in the discipline at the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships here, Ganong just wasn\u2019t right during the 2018-19 season. Though he was sixth at Val Gardena, Italy and 10th in Soldeu, Andorra, at the World Cup finals, last season was a forgettable campaign for the 31-year-old.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cComparing where I was last year to this year is totally different,\u201d Ganong said. \u201cLast year, I had to trick myself into thinking I was OK and I was struggling all winter with my knee. This year is a totally different story. It\u2019s feeling good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Ganong enters Birds of Prey having tied for 10th in the Lake Louise downhill and taking 12th in the super-G. Meanwhile, were surgeries like frequent-flyer miles, Steven Nyman (three World Cup downhill wins, all in Val Gardena) would be in the front of the plane wherever he goes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cTwo years ago, ACL, MCL, PCL,\u201d Nyman said. \u201cLast year was ACL.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Throw in Jared Goldberg and Tommy Biesemeyer, who both had Achilles tendon injuries, and it\u2019s not really a surprise why the team has been struggling.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Back to Nyman (Sundance, Utah), he feels good and has a wealth of experience from which to draw here at Beaver Creek \u2014 third in 2006; second in 2007; third in 2014 and fourth in the 2015 worlds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI\u2019ve done well here and have three podiums, but I haven\u2019t won here,\u201d Nyman, 37, said. \u201cThat\u2019s highly motivating to me, that energy, that desire to push for more. That heightened focus, that\u2019s a place when I tend to switch things on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s a fun hill. I see it. I understand it. It\u2019s just a joy to ski. It\u2019s one of the most well-rounded downhills on tour. It has the steeps. It has the flats. It has the terrain, big terrain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Nyman started this speed season tied for 10th with Ganong in last weekend\u2019s downhill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">Bennett gaining ground<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Knock wood, for some reason, Bryce Bennett (Lake Tahoe, like Ganong) didn\u2019t break his body. Instead, he finished seventh in the downhill points.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In the process, he had top 10 finishes here, Val Gardena, Bormio, and in Wengen, Switzerland. Those are some resume builders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">With those performances, he\u2019s making the transition from prospect to mainstay, and that takes some adjustment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI don\u2019t know. I\u2019m living that right now,\u201d Bennett said with a laugh. \u201cIt all kind of changes. Before, you\u2019re just skiing. There\u2019s no external worries and then you start doing well and there\u2019s a lot of media requests, some other obligations you don\u2019t really think of. Not that it detracts, it\u2019s part of the process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\">This story is from VailDaily.com<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/americans-have-high-hopes-for-birds-of-prey\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>American Travis Ganong flies over Red Tail during the downhill training for the Xfinity Birds of Prey Audi FIS Ski World Cup on Wednesday in Beaver Creek. Ganong feels he&#8217;s back to 100% after tearing his ACL in Bormio, Italy, in December 2017.Chris Dillmann \/ cdillmann@vaildaily.com American Bryce Bennett, who finished seventh in the World [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-802030","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 05:39:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802030\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}