‘Unstoppable’ Guay skis to silver medal
Canadian Erik Guay lived up to his King of Garmisch nickname on Saturday, earning his first FIS World Cup podium of the season at his favourite venue.
Guay, of Mont-tremblant, Que., was second in the men’s downhill at Garmisch-partenkirchen, Germany, finishing less than three tenths of a second out of the goldmedal position.
“I just feel like I’m unstoppable when I get here,” Guay, who won gold at the worlds at GarmischPartenkirchen last year, said in a conference call. “I’m obviously super happy to be on the podium today. I felt good and relaxed out there.”
Didier Cuche of Switzerland won gold in one minute, 9.10 seconds, Guay was second in 1:09.37 and Austria’s Hannes Reichelt was third in 1:09.40.
The course was shortened due to fog at the top of the mountain.
Guay had a great start, but lost a little bit of ground on Cuche in the middle section of the course. The Canadian skier’s boot even hit the snow at one point, slowing him down.
“I made a pretty big mistake in the middle and I probably lost the race there,” Guay said. “That one mistake cost me.”
The silver-medal performance was the first Canadian medal of the 2011-12 World Cup alpine season.
“Erik was lightning fast on the top and made a substantial mistake in the middle,” Canadian men’s ski team coach Paul Kristofic said.
In other Canadian results, Calgary’s Jan Hudec finished 12th in 1:09.74, Ben Thomsen of Invermere, B.C., recorded his first top 30 result of the season in downhill with a 23rd-place finish (1:10.20) and Conrad Pridy secured his first career World Cup top 30 by finishing 25th (1:10.26).
Vanderbeek finishes 48th
St. Moritz, Switzerland / After more than two years on the sidelines due to a serious knee injury Canadian downhill skier Kelly Vanderbeek returned to the FIS World Cup circuit.
Vanderbeek, of Kitchener, Ont., finished 48th in the women’s down- hill in St. Moritz, Switzerland. She finished well back of winner Lindsay Vonn of the United States, but was still pleased with her performance.
Vonn won the gold in dominating fashion, clocking 1:43.65. Germany’s Maria Hoefl-reisch was second in 1:45.07 and Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein was third in 1:45.12.
Win dedicated to Burke
aspen, colo. / Canadian Roz Groenewoud won the gold medal in the women’s ski superpipe at the X-games, dedicating her win to fallen teammate Sarah Burke.
Groenewoud, of Calgary, posted a score of 93.66 on her second of three runs and that held up for the gold medal.
Burke, who would have been the favourite in women’s ski superpipe coming into the X-games, died on Jan. 19 a week after a training accident in Park City, Utah.
After falling, Burke tore a vertebral artery, which led to an intracranial hemorrhage which caused Burke to go into cardiac arrest on the scene. She was put in an induced coma at a Salt Lake City hospital, but never recovered from her injuries.
Burke had won the X-games gold medal in 2007, ’08, ’09 and ’11.
Edmonton’s Mike Riddle finished seventh in the men’s event, one spot ahead of Justin Dorey of Vernon, B.C., who dislocated his shoulder after a nasty fall on his second run.