Ganong Sidelined for Remainder of Season

American Downhiller and two-time World Cup winner Travis Ganong suffered a season-ending knee injury at the recent FIS Alpine World Cup event in Bormio, Italy, which means he will miss the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in South Korea. Post-event assessments by a medical team in the United States established that Ganong sustained an ACL tear to his right knee.

“I’m obviously disappointed that the injury I sustained in Bormio means my season is over, especially as this is an Olympic year,” said Ganong. “But I know I will be back, and I will be back stronger and faster than ever. Now my focus is on recovery and on supporting my teammates at the Games in South Korea. We have an incredible team, right across all the disciplines U.S. Ski & Snowboard represents, and I’ll be cheering as loudly as any of our fans when our guys win medals in PyeongChang.”

As you may have seen, I crashed in the downhill race in Bormio a few days ago, and tweaked my right knee.  After flying home and getting an MRI, it is confirmed that I have torn my ACL which unfortunately means my season is over. Bormio is a bittersweet place for me now as it is where I scored my first World Cup Points, had my first top 10, and where I won my first World Cup DH (in nearby Santa Caterina). However, now it is also the place where I had my first crash after 115 World Cup starts, and the first time that I have hit the B-net, in both training and racing! Having an injury is tough, and I am especially disappointed that this happened 5 weeks before the Olympics in South Korea where I was hoping to represent my country for the second time and fight for medals.  Now my next 6 months will obviously be very different to those of a World Cup skier, but I am excited for this new challenge and I am looking forward to re-setting, re-motivating, and working harder than ever to come back even stronger than I am now.  I still have many goals and much that I want to accomplish as a professional skier, and I can’t wait to get back into the starting gate again next season.  I will also have a great rehab partner with @mmgagnon rehabbing by my side! I want to thank all of my sponsors, fans, coaches, teammates and everyone at U.S. Ski & Snowboard, my friends and my family for their continued support and I want to let you all know that it is an honor being a part of the snow sports community! I will be cheering for the whole team in South Korea and I am excited to see so many talented athletes achieve their goals at the Games. I am planning on having surgery late this week after the swelling has gone down and I have my range of motion back.  After that I will start the rehab process here in Lake Tahoe, and also re-start working on my Ski Resort Management and Business degree from @sierranevadacollege .  I am also looking forward to having some time to work on and launch a new coffee company @pacificcrestcoffee (more to come)! So here is to a new year filled with new challenges!  The road back is not always easy, but I am embracing it and will be ready…

A post shared by Travis Ganong (@travisganong) on Jan 1, 2018 at 11:27am PST

“Travis was a medal threat in South Korea, for sure,” said CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard Tiger Shaw. “He has the speed, talent, and experience to win and he’s tasted podium success already on the world stage, so not having him on our team in PyeongChang is clearly disappointing, but he will recover and he will have many opportunities to win in the future.”

“Looking at the team overall, in Ted Ligety and Steven Nyman, we have two more experienced, world class athletes flying the U.S. flag in international men’s alpine competition, and we have some exciting talent coming through the ranks which bodes well for the future,” continued Shaw. “Bryce Bennett, for example, has been showing good consistency this season, as has Jared Goldberg, and now we also have the exciting talent of River Radamus coming through — a young racer who has just taken part in his first World Cup event. We have a lot to look forward to but, for now, our focus is on achieving our targets across the team in South Korea.”

Ganong joins a list of notable World Cup athletes that have suffered season-ending injuries this season that includes his girlfriend, Canada’s Marie-Michelle Gagnon, who also suffered a torn ACL after a downhill crash in Lake Louise in November.

Release courtesy of U.S. Ski & Snowboard.