A day later, Jansrud had another problem to deal with when he crashed violently coming out of one of the course’s sweeping turns. Jansrud tumbled out of bounds at nearly 60 m.p.h., his skis helicoptering into the netting on one side of the slope.
The American men, who have been snakebit by injuries the past few seasons, have skied clean so far as they try to get back to the standard that the now retired stars like Bode Miller and Ted Ligety set on the World Cup tour the past 15 years.
Travis Ganong, a 33-year-old Californian who tore a major knee ligament a few years ago, registered the most encouraging result, finishing third in Friday’s Super-G race.
“We needed that,” said Steve Nyman, 39, the team’s elder statesman, who is mounting a comeback from his own series of injuries. “You see a guy up there on the podium it fires us all up.”
The Swiss and the Austrians, who generally rule this sport, don’t often need much firing up but they have gotten their fair share the past few days. Marco Odermatt of Switzerland, a fast-rising 24-year-old, won the Super-G Thursday, took second Friday, and looks likely to carry on his country’s Alpine traditions.
And if it is an Olympic year, then it is a safe bet that Meyer, one of the smaller skiers on the tour, will be finding his unique form, skiing in his trademark position like an upside-down U. Meyer was the downhill Olympic champion in 2014 and the Super-G champion in 2018. Meyer finished second in Thursday’s super-G and was sitting in the leader’s seat for a good half-hour Saturday before Kilde knocked him out it.
“I brought my confidence from yesterday,” Kilde said after his second straight win. “A great feeling.”