ERIK'S A GREAT GUAY
Canadian Erik Guay remained realistic about his chances of providing an upset in the men's downhill at the world championships despite posting the fastest time in Wednesday's third training session.
"I'm really happy to have the leading time," Guay told Reuters after coming down a windy Stelvio course in one minute, 54.62 seconds - 0.16 seconds ahead of America's Daron Rahlves and 0.20 seconds ahead of local favourite Kristian Ghedina.
"It's a little bit surprising for me because I've been struggling recently to get the feeling of my skis back. Today I just treated it like a race, though, and tried to cut as much off the race line as possible."
With many of the sport's top names taking it easy on Wednesday in preparation for Thursday's combined race, Guay said he was not reading too much significance into his time -- at least as far as Saturday's race was concerned.
"I'd love to be on the podium of course," he grinned. "But right now, I'm really aiming for the top 15. Anywhere in the top 15 would be good."
The 23-year-old from Mont Tremblant, Quebec, does not have the happiest memories of racing in Italy, having missed most of the 2003-4 season after tearing his knee ligaments during a Val Gardena training run back in December 2003.
That injury, which kept him off the circuit for almost a year, was all the more painful for coming just a month after his best ever result on the World Cup circuit -- a second place finish on the home snow of Lake Louise.
Wednesday's performance suggests, though, that the Canadian is starting to rediscover his rhythm.
"It's great to feel competitive again, although it will probably put a bit more pressure on me for the race itself," he said.