PISTE PEERS CRAZY ABOUT THIS CANUCK
He's got their respect, now Guay yearns to join elite
There are mornings when you pick up the newspaper, look at the stat pages and wonder if being the best skier in Canada is similar in scope to being Thailand's best hockey player.
Widely regarded as Canada's top speedster, Erik Guay finished 18th in Friday's Audi FIS World Cup downhill training run. His best result this week was a 15th on Wednesday, and reaching the podium might be a stretch in today's main event.
Results such as these suggest our marquee man would merely be a fringe participant in a powerful skiing nation.
But that notion was floated around the finish area Friday and the responses might surprise you.
"If you're sitting down in the finish and you're leading, you don't celebrate too hard until Erik is done his run," said Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal, who won the Lake Louise super-G last season. "I don't know how many times he's been on the podium all together, but he's one of the bigger guys on the super-G."
"Any country would love to have him on their team. Even the Austrians."
To validate that suggestion, Austrian legend Hermann Maier was asked for his take.
Remember, Maier is 33 years old and has won four Olympic medals, four overall World Cup titles and 53 World Cup races. Guay is a 25-year-old with four career World Cup podiums.
"He's a newcomer," said Maier. "He's only been three or four years on the World Cup. He's good, especially in super-G. He's recognized. For sure, he's respected."
Even Bode Miller, the colourful American, offered Guay nothing but props.
"He's a good racer, he's got good skills," said Miller. "He has the ability to compete on a lot of different hills. A lot of guys only have one or two hills on the whole season where they can even be close. He's able to do it on some different hills."
Of course, Guay doesn't ski to win kudos from these guys, but he was pleased to hear their comments.
Since joining the World Cup circuit in 2000, he's earned respect with a famous work ethic and steadily improving results. Late last season, he was among the World Cup super-G leaders and almost reached the podium at the Winter Olympics, finishing fourth, one-tenth of a second out of the medals.
"I remember the first times on the World Cup when everybody sort of looks down on you," said the product of Mont-Tremblant, Que., who blazed to second in the 2003 Lake Louise downhill. "When you're out inspecting the hill, you stand in the line and you visualize (the run). When the more experienced guys come down and you're a rookie, they come and step on your skis and make you move out of the way. That doesn't happen anymore."
Now, Guay rubs elbows with the best and can give them a scare on any given day.
The best part is, his brightest days are yet to come. Only Guay and five other skiers in the top 30 of Friday's training run were born in 1982 or later, including Svindal and fellow Canadians Francois Bourque and Manuel Osborne-Paradis.
"I'm not a top-tier (skier)," said Guay. "I'm not a Herman Maier, I'm not a (Michael) Walchhofer yet. But that's where I'm heading, hopefully, and that's where I want to be.
"I just need to keep going in the same direction, keep working hard, keep focusing on the little things, the technique. It's kind of a cliche, I truly believe that if you work hard and you're focused on your goals, and you take advantage of every opportunity, I think it's kind of inevitable that you will perform."
So, while Guay isn't at the top of the rankings on a consistent basis -- at least, not yet -- don't sell him short.
He and his young teammates are regarded as formidable competitors in every event.
"They're strong and up-and-coming," said Svindal. "I'm impressed how they've managed to build a young team that's already doing so well."