Guay takes second in Hahnenkamm race
Closes in on Canadian podium record at course where Crazy Canucks once thrived
His standout ski career has included an FIS world downhill title and a Crystal Globe as overall season champion in super-G, but until Saturday Erik Guay had never reached the podium on the challenging track at Kitzbuehel, Austria.
In the famed Hahnenkamm race that was dominated in the early-1980s by the Crazy Canucks, the 31-year-old from Mont-Tremblant finally filled in that blank in his career record with a second-place finish, just 0.13 seconds back of Italy’s Dominik Paris.
“If ever there’s a place you want to podium, it’s Kitzbuehel,” said Guay of a venue that annually attracts 50,000 bell-clanging, flag-waving fans. “It’s definitely the Super Bowl of the World Cup.”
Guay’s second podium of the 2012-13 season comes just two weeks before the 2013 world championships in Schladming, Austria, where he’ll defend the downhill title he won in 2011.
And his encouraging performance on the scariest and most difficult course on the World Cup circuit also comes a year out from the 2014 Sochi Olympics, where he’ll try to claim the only other significant bauble that has eluded him, an Olympic medal.
“I’m definitely pumped with the day,” said Guay, whose terrific run Saturday moved him to fourth in the tight season downhill standings with 253 points, only 64 back of the leader Paris. “I stepped up where I needed to. Now, I’m really excited for Schladming.”
The podium finish was the 19th of Guay’s career, moving him to within one of the alltime Canadian men’s record of 20, held by Steve Podborski. But Guay’s total includes just three wins; Podborski had eight, including back-toback triumphs at Kitzbuehel in 1981-82.
With any kind of luck, Guay could have passed Podborski’s podium total by now. He has seven fourthplace finishes in either downhill or super-G since 2007, including one this season in a downhill at Wengen, Switzerland.
Guay’s second-place at Kitzbuehel overshadowed another strong effort by North Vancouver’s Manuel Osborne-Paradis as he continues his comeback season from serious leg injuries sustained two years ago.
Starting 40th, OsborneParadis attacked from the back once again to post the 11th-fastest time and then was bumped up to 10th following a disqualification.
It was his second-best result of the season and moves him back into the top seed of starters for the final four downhills of the campaign.
“There were some massive bumps starting from the back,” said Osborne-Paradis. “But at least now I’m going back into the top 30.”
Ben Thomsen of Invermere was 17th and Jan Hudec of Calgary 18th.
On Sunday, Marcel Hirscher of Austria posted the fastest second run to win the Hahnenkamm slalom, but still saw his points lead in the overall World Cup standings shrink to 114 over Aksel Lund-Svindal of Norway after the weekend of racing. Lund-Svindal was first in Friday’s super-G, ninth in the downhill and fifth in the super combined.
Hirscher’s combined time of one minute, 44.34 seconds was 0.77 better than Felix Neureuther of Germany.
Michael Janyk of Whistler posted his best finish of the season, 14th in 1:46.15.
“I’m happy, it was like the old Mike in the second run ... I felt like I was really ripping,” said Janyk, who failed to qualify for a second run in his first five starts of the season. “I’ve been doing it in training, but needed to do it on race day.” Maze extends lead: Slovenian Tina Maze delighted the home crowd Sunday by winning a World Cup slalom in Maribor one day after finishing second in a giant slalom to American Lindsey Vonn by just 0.08 seconds.
Maze celebrated her win by doing a cartwheel with her ski boots on.
“It’s so amazing to win here. Everybody is cheering me on.”
It was Maze’s seventh win of the season — her first in slalom — and extended her already commanding lead in the World Cup overall standings. She has 1,654 points. Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany is second with 806 and Vonn third with 740.
Eli Terwiel of Sun Peaks, B.C., had a sizzling second run, the second-fastest behind Maze, to move from 28th to 17th on the day, matching her World Cup best. MarieMichele Gagnon of LacEtchemin was 20th and Brittany Phelan of Mont-Tremblant 29th.