Canadians fall short of peak performance
PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA— A year ago at this time, Canada’s alpine skiers were celebrating a rare coup. Winners of three medals at the world championships in St. Moritz, the Canadians became aware that their competitors in the ski world were taking notes about their methods.
“Everybody was looking at us wondering how we were doing OK in World Cup, and then we’d go get three medals at world championships,” said Manny Osborne-Paradis, who won bronze in world championship super-G. “They’d say, ‘Maybe we need to do warmup like them. Or maybe their hotel was better.’ ”
A year later, as the Olympic alpine events continued into this weekend, micro-analyzing Canadian tendencies is definitely last year’s trend. While Canada came into the Olympics hoping to at least repeat its modest success in Sochi — when Jan Hudec’s bronze in super-G represented the first Canadian Olympic alpine medal in 20 years — its best chances at doing so have come and gone. Osborne-Paradis, the top medal threat on the men’s side, finished 14th in downhill and 22nd in Friday’s super-G. Austria’s Matthias Mayer won gold, ahead of silver-medal-winning Beat Feuz of Switzerland and Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud, who won bronze. Canada’s Dustin Cook finished ninth, about eight-tenths of a second off the gold-medal pace.
Meanwhile Brampton’s Erin Mielzynski, widely seen as Canada’s best shot at a medal in the women’s events, finished 11th in Friday’s slalom. Sweden’s Frida Hansdotter won gold, while Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener and Austria’s Katharina Gallhuber won silver and bronze, respectively.
“We are trying to find ourselves,” said Osborne-Paradis, speaking of Canada’s team. “I mean, we’ve been a team that has had two or three guys that were always going to be in the top 15, and maybe top 10s. And if somebody didn’t have a good race there was always somebody to fill that void. It’s just not been the case now. I haven’t been able to fill it. And it’s just been really hard on everybody.”
It hasn’t helped, of course, that Canada’s two best alpine skiers aren’t here on account of injury. Erik Guay, who accounted for two of those three world championship medals a year ago — including gold in super-G and silver in downhill — announced last month that he would forgo the Games on account of back pain. And Marie-Michele Gagnon, she of the four World Cup podiums, was a Pyeongchang no-go since she tore her ACL and dislocated her shoulder in Nov. 30 crash training at Lake Louise.
“It hurts us — the two best ones not around. No excuse. We know that. That’s the way it is in the sport,” said Martin Rufener, Alpine Canada’s athletic director.
But while Rufener spoke before the Games of his hope that Canada might win a medal in men’s downhill or super-G, the performances didn’t materialize. Cook, who won silver at the 2015 world championships in super-G, said the difference between his ninth-place effort and a place on the podium came down to small margins.
“Could have tucked a little more. There were just a couple of tactical things where I was off on a few gates. And it adds up,” Cook said. “A half-tenth here, a tenth there, and you’re third instead of ninth. Shoulda, coulda, woulda. But definitely a good learning experience. Glad to perform under pressure on the biggest stage.”
There were bright spots. The 27year-old Mielzynski, after a disappointing first of two runs that put her in 22nd place, knocked off the third-fastest time in the field in the second run. Laurence St-Germain, the 23-year-old Quebecer, was 11th after the first run and ended up 15th. And Osborne-Paradis lauded a cadre of young teammates who had solid showings in their debut Games. Toronto’s Jack Crawford, age 21, was 20th in the alpine combined. Benjamin Thomsen, 22, finished 28th in downhill. And Broderick Thompson, 23, finished 23rd in both alpine combined and super-G, and 35th in downhill.
“Jack and Broderick — for their age they were probably the two best and youngest guys in the (alpine) combined,” said Osborne-Paradis.
Still, no serious contender comes to the Olympics skiing for a respectable spot in the top 25.
“The top three matter,” OsborneParadis said. “And the rest is just all participation medals.”
As the 34-year-old Osborne-Paradis stood at the bottom of the Olympic super-G course on Friday, he said there’s one solution for what ails Alpine Canada.
“Ski faster. That’s the solution for everything,” he said. “Literally the solution for everything in your life is ski faster. ‘I need this. We need more money.’ Ski faster. We’ll figure it out. I’ve had way worse seasons than this. I’ve had better seasons. That’s the trials and tribulations of sport. Trying to be the best in the world is not an easy feat.”