THE WINS GET BETTER WITH AGE
Guay is oldest alpine world champion ever; fellow Canadian Osborne-Paradis in third
Erik Guay and Manuel OsborneParadis are considered senior citizens in the warp-speed world of alpine skiing. On the other side of 30, with Bible-thick medical charts, the two looked to be riding into the sunset at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
But on Wednesday, Guay and Osborne-Paradis stopped the clock by winning world championship gold and bronze in super G in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
With the victory, Guay, 35, becomes the oldest world champion in the history of alpine skiing and only the fourth man to win world titles in both super G and downhill (2011). Clearly in top form, Guay has a chance to collect more hardware with another podium performance in Saturday’s downhill.
“What a day,” an elated Guay told Postmedia News over the phone from St. Moritz. “I’m really as happy as could be.”
The native of Mont-Tremblant, Que., crashed in spectacular fashion back on Jan. 27 in Garmisch, Germany (the airbag he wears under his suit deployed to save him from the full impact). Twelve days later, he put down the run of his life in St. Moritz, beating Olympic champion Kjetil Jansrud by 0.45 seconds.
“You hear it often that you might be the one standing on top of the podium, but there’s a whole team behind you,” Guay said. “But I can’t say enough about the coaches, the physios, my ski servicemen and everybody who surrounds me behind the scenes working. It was really a team effort today.
“I’m just ecstatic. And to be able to share it with friends on the podium in Manny and Jansrud, that makes it even more special.”
Guay said he could barely walk in the days following the crash in Garmisch due to a badly bruised posterior.
“I had quite a big contusion on my buttocks,” he said with a chuckle. “It took a little bit of time. There were probably three or four days where I was quite sore. I had to do a lot of therapy.”
With six knee surgeries to date, Guay has said his next major injury will be his last. He wants to ensure he is healthy enough in retirement to ski and play with his three daughters.
But he’s not about to walk away until he has one more shot at the only thing missing from his trophy collection: an Olympic medal.
“One thing that has really changed for me over the last few years is my physical training,” he said. “I stopped working out with the team and started doing my own thing. I read an article this morning about Tom Brady and how he sort of did the same thing. Now he’s almost 40 years old, and he won the Super Bowl.
“I related to that with my own training.
“I focus more on keeping the body moving than just strength, and my body doesn’t hurt anymore, which it did 10 years ago. I think that’s why I’m able to compete at this age.”
Osborne-Paradis turned 33 on Wednesday. The crowd serenaded him with Happy Birthday when he joined Guay in the finish area.
The product of Invermere, B.C., had never won a world championship medal. He is a new dad to two-month-old Sloane Grace.
“I watched Erik’s run and it really inspired me,” Osborne-Paradis said. “I had so much energy. I was just so jazzed and pumped. He phoned me two guys before I went and gave me a good course report. It was just a super sweet team effort, and I was able to come down with a third.”
The last time Canada had two athletes on the world championship podium was in 1982 when Gerry Sorensen took gold in the women’s downhill and Laurie Graham won bronze. The double podium on Wednesday gave Canada its 27th and 28th world championship medals since 1956.
The record for total number of world championship medals for Canada in a single year is three, a feat accomplished in 1958 (Lucille Wheeler, two golds and a silver) and a decade later in 1968 (Nancy Greene, two golds and a silver.)