By USSA

ROSA KHUTOR, Russia -– Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley) charged to fifth on the steep and fast course of the 2014 Sochi downhill on Sunday, pulling out the best finish of his career during his first Olympic appearance.

Ganong skied into the lead, but was then bumped by Norwegian Kjetil Jansrud, who took bronze behind gold winner Matthias Mayer of Austria and silver medalist Christof Innerhofer of Italy.

Pre-race favorite Bode Miller (Franconia, N.H.) skied a fast and tight line but plowed through a panel and lost time, finishing eighth.

After a slow start, Ganong charged the bottom of the course to win the last two intervals and finish in the lead.

Ganong entered the Olympics with a career-best weekend in Kitbuehel, finishing seventh in downhill and sixth in super G.

“I had no idea what I would feel like kicking out of the starting gate today. I just let myself relax and let my skiing take over,” Ganong said. “My run was awesome. I did basically what I wanted to do. I pushed hard. I pushed huge off the jumps and had a smile on my face when I finished.”

Clouds moved into Rosa Khutor for the first time in four days, creating different light conditions from what the athletes experienced in each of the three training runs.

Steven Nyman (Sundance, Utah) was 27th and Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley) 30th. It was the final Olympic start for Sullivan, who will not race through 2018.