Calgary, Alta. (February 26, 2017) – Canada’s 2017 super-G World Champion, Erik Guay, is back on the podium today after skiing to a third-place finish in the Kvitfjell (NOR) super-G. Coming down wearing bib number 15, Guay put down a blazing run, leading at every interval until the last one, crossing the line just 0.23 seconds back from the winning time. 

“I’ve been feeling good all week,” said Guay. “Manny and I have been battling each other and feeding off each other this week. It’s great to cap off the weekend with a third-place and head home with some hardware. I like this course because it has a bit of everything. It has some flatter sections, rolls, some challenging terrain at the bottom and tactical sections. I’m looking to keep this momentum going into World Cup Finals.”

This is Guay’s fourth podium of the season, and third super-G podium putting him into eighth-place in the super-G standings. 

Vancouver’s Manuel Osborne-Paradis, who captured bronze at the 2017 World Championships in super-G, held onto a top ten finish today, 0.81 seconds back from the winning time. 

“I’m happy with tenth, it was a good result here,” said Osborne-Paradis. “I had a battle in my head the whole way down about how much risk I could take. I knew I needed a good enough result to make World Cup Finals and this tenth-place finish has bumped me up in the world rankings. I didn’t take as much risk as I could have in the middle section, which maybe cost me a top five or six. I feel really comfortable on the super-G right now and when you’re comfortable, you’re able to push a little more. This winter showed me what I’m capable of when I really take some risks.” 

It was a tight race today with 16 athletes times within 1.00 second from the fastest time of the day. 

Italy’s Peter Fill was today’s winner, stopping the clock at 1:32.83. Hannes Reichelt from Austria was 0.10 seconds back from the winning and Canada’s Guay rounded out the podium finishing in third-place. 

On the ladies’ side, Quebec’s Marie-Michèle Gagnon put down an impressive performance in the Crans Montana (SUI) alpine combined finishing in fourth-place, just 0.03 from the podium. Gagnon was sitting in third after the super-G run and narrowly missed holding onto that podium spot. 

Slalom superstar, Mikaela Shiffrin from USA, took the win today, moving up six spots with a blazing slalom run, winning in a time of 2:0716. Italy’s Frederica Brignone finished in second-place, 0.70 seconds back from Shiffrin and Ilka Stuhec took third-place, 0.85 seconds off the lead-time. 

Toronto’s Candace Crawford captured her first top-15 World Cup finish of the season, finishing in 15th-place, making up 12 spots with her slalom run. 

Today marks the final weekend of speed races before the athletes head to Aspen (USA) for the World Cup Finals. 

Canadian men’s results

3 – Erik Guay

10 – Manuel Osborne-Paradis

32 – Dustin Cook

44 – Tyler Werry 

Canadian’s ladies’ results

4 – Marie-Michèle Gagnon

15 – Candace Crawford

DNF – Valérie Grenier

DNF – Mikaela Tommy

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.