Calgary, Alta. (January 27, 2017) – It was a wild ride on the on Kandahar track in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER) for today’s downhill with the gnarly course spitting out seven of the top 30 men. 

Vancouver's Manuel Osborne-Paradis charged out of the gate, maxing out at a speed of close to 130 km/hr, landing his first top ten finish of the season. The Canadian Cowboy skied to a sixth-place finish under blue bird skies. 

“I’m happy with sixth place today and it’s my first top ten finish of the season,” said Osborne-Paradis. “I’m close to third and I’m happy about that. It was a difficult day with a lot of crashes and a couple injuries. I watched all them from up top but I wasn’t too nervous about it because I had a game plan in place. The line I took was different than what the other guys took and it seemed to work. I feel like I’m back and I can do anything on these skis. Overall today was good but I know there’s more in the bank for a second run tomorrow.”

Mont Tremblant’s Erik Guay had a spectacular crash, catching an edge before launching himself head over heels off a jump and into the safety netting. Guay waved to the camera once he picked himself up, miraculously walking away with only minor bumps and bruises. 

It was a tough day for Ben Thomsen who had a significant delay before his start due to a fallen competitor, failing to land inside the top 30. 

U.S.A.’s Travis Ganong was the fastest down the Kandahar track today in a time of 1:53.71. The Norwegian Viking, Kjetil Jansrud was 0.38 seconds back in second-place and Italy’s Peter Fill rounded out the podium 0.52 seconds back. 

The men are back in action on the Kandahar track again tomorrow for a second downhill. 

Canadian men’s results

6 - Manuel Osborne-Paradis

40 - Ben Thomsen

44 - Jeffrey Frisch

DNF - Broderick Thompson

DNF - Erik Guay

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