SOARING START FOR LEMAN
Silver medal nice but Calgary skier sets his sights on gold
To call Brady Leman obsessed over winning the Crystal Globe — the trophy awarded annually to the best ski-cross racer in the world — ranks as a slight overstatement.
Determined bordering on fixated is probably a better way of putting it.
“I’m proud of what I did today, but with that said, I want to win,” Leman re marked Wednesday from Val Thorens, France. “The Crystal Globe, for me, it’s my main goal this season. It’s what I’ve set out to get. It’s what I want.
“I just have to stay focused race to race, but I’ve got one eye on the overall standings.”
Leman, 26, won his second straight silver medal Wednesday but simply couldn’t get his mind off the man who stood atop the podium.
Switzerland’s Armin Niederer beat him in the final to secure his spot atop the World Cup standings with 260 points. Leman is second with 200 points.
In Leman’s mind, that makes Niederer a marked man.
“When you know you are behind the guy who’s leading the overall ... I was really trying to get ahead of him, but I just couldn’t,” said Leman. “He’s racing so strong right now.
“It’s going to be interesting to see how the year keeps going if we both kind of stay hot and end up in the finals all the time together.”
Leman’s preoccupation with hoisting the Crystal Globe dates back to the tragic end to the 2011/12 ski cross campaign,
In ski cross, the whole point of the exercise is to make it to the finals. Leman did just that in the he last competition of the season, placing 14th in qualifying at Grindelwald, Sweden.
Then the inconceivable happened. Canadian racer Nik Zoricic soared over the final jump crashed into the safety netting and suffered massive head injuries He later died in hospital.
The race was cancelled on the spot. Under International Ski Federation (FIS) rules, if a race cancellation, points are awarded based on qualifying position.
SoLeman dropped to second place overall, leaving Slovenian Filip Filisar to hoist the Crystal Globe as the top ski cross racer on the planet.
It’s going to be interesting to see how the year keeps
going
BRADY LEMAN
In the big picture, Leman know the trophy means nothing compared to the loss of his friend. But in trying to cope, he devised a plan to win the title this winter and dedicate it to Zoricic.
Thus the drive, burning stronger than ever, to stand atop the podium at every race on the calendar.
“Two finals in a row, two silvers in a row,” Leman said. “It’s going to take that kind of consistency it looks like this year to have a shot at it. You’re not going to be able to miss a beat. The competition is so stiff.”
Truth be told, Canadian head coach Eric Archer expected not much of anything in terms of podiums in the early part of this season due to the aftershocks of Zoricic’s death.
But Leman finished second again on Wednesday, and Whistler resident Dave Duncan just missed the podium in fourth.
“I’m surprised we are seeing the results this quickly,” Archer said “These guys are out here and they are racing and they are focused. “That’s impressive.” Impressive is one way of putting it.
“It’s a relief to be back skiing again,” Leman said. “Nik’s always with us. We’re always thinking about what happened, and we’re definitely seeing some good changes.”
Safety is the new focus on the World Cup tour with the competitors stepping up to point out potential hazards before anyone sets foot on the course.
“In this race, the athletes had some concerns,” Leman said. “We met as a group at the top, addressed the race committee, and they made the changes that we wanted to see.
“So for me, the team is doing well. It’s a relief, and it’s almost relaxing to be back in the start gate where you’re just skiing. That’s what we’re all here to do, and that’s what Nik would want us to do is to keep going and keep doing what we love.”