1 February 2017 — Happy Birthday Mom…in case you missed it, we covered all the ladies’ weekend World Cup action on Monday, so today we’ll comment on what the gents did this past weekend in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, we’ll recap last night’s “city event” in Stockholm, and we’ll look ahead to the upcoming World Championships next week in St. Moritz.

First up, back to Garmisch action. As mentioned previously, Travis Ganong was the surprise winner in a make-up downhill on the Kandahar course, this was a replacement event for the cancelled Lauberhorn downhill in Wengen. Because this was a replacement race I don’t think it was part of the Kandahar prize competition, but who knows. At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter, Ganong absolutely blistered the bottom section of the course. He either killed it, or his techie knew something about wax that nobody else knew, or a combination thereof. Whatever, Ganong was simply the best skier in the world on that day. This was his fourth career podium and second career victory.

Bad news on the hill that Friday came in the form of a couple of helicopter rides, first for Ganong’s teammate Steve Nyman, who went sub-orbital off one of the jumps and came down sans parachute. He’ll be out the rest of the season due to a knee injury. Here’s our intrepid aerialist after landing in Garmisch…

…giving the thumbs up to teammate Ganong! Hard not to like the intrepid Nyman — victory or crash, he comes out smiling.

Frenchman Valentin Giraud Moine, who earned newfound fame with a downhill podium on the Streif last week, was also heli-evac’d (is that a verb? hope so) after crashing hard. There is no official word yet from FIS as to the extent of his injuries, although rumor is he suffered a nasty broken leg. Teammate Guillermo Fayed crashed but skied down, however he may also be out for the balance of the season.

Quebecor Erik Guay also succumbed to the gnarly course when he grabbed an edge just prior to launching himself at 71 MPH. Guay twisted during his trajectory, then landed like a sack of maritime potatoes launched from a cannon. Guay skied down — somehow — and said he was fortunate to get by with mere bumps and bruises.

Saturday the boys went back to the hill for the regular Kandahar downhill, which was bested by Austrian great Hannes Reichelt, who finished ahead of Italy’s talented Peter Fill and Switzerland’s Beat Feuz, who is also a top downhiller. Ganong followed up with a respectable 12th. The podium pushed Fill to the top of the Downhill standings.

Events wrapped up yesterday with a Giant Slalom, won by Marcel Hirscher, to the surprise of no one. If you aren’t familiar with this guy, he has won the last five overall titles, and barring injury he’ll win an unprecedented sixth crown this year. He trains and skis like one of those machines played by countryman Arnold Schwarzeneggar. Hirscher was followed on the podium by Swede Matts Olsson, his first time on the top tier. Germany’s Stefan Luitz was third.

On to Stockholm last night for a “city event,” these are exciting, dual-slalom events on temporary courses, usually right in town, men and women, in heat races, with points on the line.

Results were no surprise on the ladies side, but a complete shocker on the mens. American Mikaela Shiffrin earned her 28th career FIS World Cup win and her 40th podium, while German unknown Linus Strasser, a late replacement for Felix Neureuther, unexpectedly took the men’s crown.

Shiffrin beat hometown fave Frida Hansdotter in the semi, then edged Veronika Velez Zuzulova of Slovakia in the final. Strasser was the surprise first round winner against Henrik Kristoffersen, then marched through the field until the final against Frenchman Alexi Pinturault. The other key to Strasser’s victory was a surprise loss for Austria’s Marcel Hirscher in his first round. Something must’ve been in the air in Stockholm last night, because normally any of those racers would make quick work of Strasser…or so we might think. The victory was Strasser’s first, and probably not his last. Shiffrin meanwhile gained another 100 points on Gut, who was not in the event.

Now the skiers have a few well deserved days off, then it’s on to St. Moritz, where action begins with downhill training runs on Monday.

And finally, on this day, we remember…