Calgary, Alta. (November 24, 2017) – After a challenging start to the speed season opener with poor cooperation from Mother Nature, the men finally kicked off their season with the first and only training run today. With one training run complete, the 2017 Lake Louise Audi FIS Ski World Cup downhill is officially a ‘go’ tomorrow, with six Canadians pushing out of the gate.

Today’s training run was a wild ride with unpredictable and changing snow conditions. After two days of rain, snow, warm weather turning to below-freezing temperatures, the course crew and volunteers had their hands full creating a safe and reliable track for today’s training run.

Erik Guay (Mont Tremblant, Que.) was Canada’s fastest man in the training run, finishing in fifth-place. “The snow isn’t great but the course workers did everything they could to make sure we had a training run today,” said Guay. “The snow is soft in sections but we think it should be better by tomorrow. My run was pretty good. I felt comoftable and calm. I initiated my game plan well. They re-set the course by ‘Coaches Corner’ and I was surprised by how low and late I was coming out of that but I skied relatively well.”

Benjamin Thomsen (Invermere, B.C.) and Tyler Werry (Calgary, Alta.) finished 14th and 15th respectively, putting three Canadians into the top-15.

Manny Osborne-Paradis (Vancouver, B.C.) finished in the top-20 despite some mistakes and challenges with the snow. “Tomorrow will be a totally different day,” said Osborne-Paradis. We’ve all raced in these kind of conditions before but I made a huge mistake in ‘Tickety’. But I’m happy with my skiing the rest of the way.”

Broderick Thompson (Whistler, B.C.) was just +0.03 from the top-30, finishing 31st. Tomorrow’s goal will be to break that barrier.

Jack Crawford (Toronto, Ont./ Whistler, B.C.) will have his first World Cup downhill start tomorrow, finishing 55th in today’s training run.

Downhill Roster

Jack Crawford

Erik Guay

Manuel Osborne-Paradis

Broderick Thompson

Benjamin Thomsen

Tyler Werry

BE THERE

Bring your cowbells and come out to cheer on Canada! It’s free to watch.  

For fan information, including directions, VIP tickets and a schedule visit: http://www.lakelouisealpineskiworldcup.com/fans.html

HOW TO WATCH (times in EST)

For Canadians who can’t be there in person, CBC has you covered.

Saturday, November 25

2:00pm – Men’s Downhill – Stream it live: cbcsports.ca

2:00pm – Men’s Downhill – Watch it: CBC Road to the Olympic Games

Sunday, November 26

2:00pm – Men’s Super-G – Stream it live: cbcsports.ca

3:00pm – Men’s Super-G – Watch it: CBC Road to the Olympic Games

ABOUT ALPINE CANADA

Alpine Canada is the national governing body for alpine, para-alpine and ski cross racing in Canada. With the support of valued corporate partners along with the Government of Canada, Own the Podium and the Canadian Olympic Committee, Alpine Canada develops Olympic, Paralympic, world championship and World Cup medallists to stimulate visibility, inspiration and growth in the ski community.