Osborne-Paradis picked up the first super-G win of his career, becoming the first Canadian male in history to win both a super-G and downhill World Cup race, finishing in a time of 1:32.93. It’s the third victory by a Canadian in Lake Louise in four years as Jan Hudec (Calgary) won the downhill in 2007 and Kucera won the super-G in 2006. Osborne-Paradis alo joins Kucera as the only Canadians to be on the podium twice in their career at a World Cup in Lake Louise.
“I don’t think it gets any better than this. In super-G I knew that I was making some good turns but I didn’t expect this,” said Osborne-Paradis, who will once again earn the use of a brand new GMC vehicle for a year as a result of Sunday’s performance. “I mean, I was second here (in the downhill) a couple years ago and now I am first, so this is great.”
Austrian veteran Benjamin Raich recorded the second fastest time of the day, finishing in 1:33.17. This is Raich's third time finishing second in the super-G in Lake Louise. Teammate Micheal Walchhofer finished in third place with a time 1:33.55. Walchhofer was the downhill winner in Lake Louise in 2003.
Erik Guay (Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada), finished in fourth place with a time of 1:33.68, just 0.12s seconds away from the podium.
“I’m really happy that everything is progressing well. I have been working on my technique and it’s been getting better and I think the confidence is there. At this moment I’m going in the right direction so I’m pretty happy,” said Guay. “I really think I skied well at the top but then for some reason I started holding back a little bit and I was round in my turns, not really riding my skis. But I’m glad today that I was able to stay around in the top 5.”
Robbie Dixon (Whistler, British Columbia, Canada), had the third fastest time amongst the Canadians as he followed Guay closely by finishing fifth with a time of 1:33.72. This is Dixon’s second solid finish this weekend as he finished eighth in Saturday’s downhill, a slot occupied in Sunday's super-G by the U.S. Ski Team's Ted Ligety, who notched his third top-10 career result in a speed event.
Ligety pleased with 8th place
"It's nice to come down like that. I'm pretty psyched about it especially since I've been so slow in the downhill training runs here, and even the training in Copper. So to get eighth is a surprise," said Ligety, from Park City, Utah.
While his primary focus has been primarily with technical events, Ligety said he was able to put more emphasis on the super G because of its similarities to GS as well as its minimal time constraints.
"The last few years I have been working hard on the speed aspects, but I've been trying hard not to let it affect my GS and slalom so much," Ligety said. "So, super G is good because it only takes one day to do, but downhill is tough because it's four days, so I can't focus on it that much."
One thing working in Ligety's favor was a course set by Speed Head Coach Chris Brigham that incorporated both speed and turns.
"I was surprised because he set a course that used a little bit of the turns, so that helped me. It was pretty variable conditions. It was windy and dark, then the sun came out for some of the guys in the middle, but the whole way I skied pretty clean," Ligety said. "I couldn't think of any mistakes I made. I was getting bumped around a little bit on the flats and lost some time, but in the speed section I tried to stay ahead of it and skied like it was a GS. That worked out well for me."
Also on point for the U.S. Sunday was Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, N.Y.) who, for the second time in as many days, finished 12th in Lake Louise.
"It was sweet to get two good results in both super G and downhill right out of the start. I'm excited about the day," Weibrecht said. "I was 30th on the board and if I went out today or didn't get a top result I would have been pushed out of the top 30, so it was pretty huge for me. Just to know I have that speed and consistency, it's awesome."
According to Weibrecht, he realized what he needs to do for his consistency - nothing.
"The last couple day's I've figured out that my skiing is there and I don't need to try to do anything fancy or special," Weibrecht said. "I just have to ski within myself and it will all come together. It's nice to know I don't have to totally shoot the moon to have the results that I need."
Rounding out the top 20 finishes for the U.S. men was Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley, Calif.) who skied to 15th place.
"I had a big mistake and was 1.1 out in the first 30 seconds and only finished the race 1.27 out. At least I know that I am skiing well and hopefully I can eliminate those mistakes and be in there in the next couple weeks. It was a pretty good day for our team," Sullivan said.
Kucera to miss the Olympics
News from Sunday's race was unfortunately not all good for the Canadian ski team, however, as Kucera left the course midway through his run and was helicoptered off the course. Alpine Canada Alpin (ACA) Medical Director Dr. Christopher Irving said that the 25-year-old reigning World Downhill Champion underwent successful surgery Sunday night at Banff Mineral Springs Hospital after fracturing the tibia and fibula in his left leg.
Irving indicated that due to the nature of the injury and expected length of time for recovery, Kucera will be unable to compete at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
“John is known as a ski racer with a determined approach to achieving his goals. We are confident that he will set about his rehabilitation process the same way that he has approached his career on the slopes,” said ACA Chief Athletics Officer, Max Gartner.
Other Canadian finishers include: François Bourque (L’Ange Gardier, Quebec, Canada), who participated in his second race this season since his knee injury while training in Lake Louise last year, in 27th; Jan Hudec (Calgary) finished 29th; and Louis-Pierre Hélie (Berthierville, Quebec, Canada), who had his first top-30 result in World Cup in yesterday’s downhill, placed 34th.
On to Colorado
Next up for the World Cup men is the Audi Birds of Prey Race Week at Beaver Creek. Birds of Prey opens with super combined on Friday, followed by the famed downhill on Saturday before wrapping with Ligety's bread and butter, the GS on Sunday.
"I'm going to be doing the combined and the GS up there and the GS has always been a great hill for me. I've been within a tenth or so of winning and it would be nice if I could get on the other side of that tenth," Ligety said. "It's also our only home race so it's nice to be racing in the U.S."
OFFICIAL RESULTS
2010 AUDI FIS ALPINE WORLD CUP
Lake Louise, AB – Nov. 29, 2009
Men's Super G
1. Manuel Osborne-Paradis, Canada, 1:32.93
2. Benjamin Raich, Austria, 1:33.17
3. Michael Walchhofer, Austria, 1:33.55
4. Erik Guay, Canada, 1:33.68
5. Robbie Dixon, Canada, 1:33.72
