Sullivan 28th in World Cup downhill

By Lindsey Sine, USSA

BORMIO, Italy — The U.S. Ski Team’s Steven Nyman (Sundance, UT) led the way for his teammates Tuesday, finishing 16h during a World Cup downhill in Bormio. Slovenia’s Andrej Jerman won the race to mark the second World Cup victory of his career.

Despite a shortened prep period due to having both knees scoped in late spring, Nyman showed he can be up there with the fastest guys again, marking his career best at one of the most challenging downhill tracks on the World Cup tour.

“It’s a confidence builder for me because I haven’t had the prep period,” Nyman said. “There’s nothing like skiing the World Cup courses. You just can’t train that stuff and every race has been getting better for me. Stuff is ramping up and I am feeling good. Hopefully I can keep the ball rolling.”

“Steven hasn’t had a whole lot of training and he did a really good job. He skied fantastically on the bottom. He was up, and forward over his boots and he did a great job today,” Men’s Alpine Head Coach Sasha Rearick added. “He came out, executed, and that’s a step in the right direction. He’s been building stronger in every race and it’s a move towards where he wants to be.”

While not the longest downhill on the World Cup, Bormio is known to be one of the most grueling with over two minutes of turns and transitions. For Nyman, being able to race it well is considered a success.

Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley, CA) followed Nyman for U.S. results, finishing 28th. According to Rearick, Sullivan was skiing well but ran into a bad transition.

“Marco skied much better up top. It was aggressive skiing and it was much better than we’ve been seeing him ski lately,” Rearick said. “Unfortunately, he got kicked going out of a transition into the flats and lost all of his speed in the long flat section.”

The men’s speed group returns to the U.S.  for a short break before returning to Europe for Wengen and Kitzbuehel.

Bormio, Italy – Dec. 29, Men’s Downhill

1. Andrej Jerman, Slovenia, 2:00.32

2. Didier Defago, Switzerland, 2:00.85

3. Michael Walchhofer, Austria, 2:01.35

4. David Poisson, France, 2:01.55

5. Didier Cuche, Switzerland, 2:01.60

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16. Steven Nyman, Sundance, UT, 2:02.46

28. Marco Sullivan, Squaw Valley, CA, 2:03.20

35. Andrew Weibrecht, Lake Placid, NY, 2:03.78

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DNS: Scott Macartney, Crystal Mountain, WA

DNF: Erik Fisher, Middleton, ID