RARE DOUBLE-PODIUM DAY FOR CANADIAN SKIERS
There was a champagne celebration plus hollers and hugs for Erik Guay and Manuel Osborne-Paradis after they posted the first double-podium by the Canadian men's ski team in 13 years Saturday.
The partying at the finish line came after a long and stressful wait as 44 skiers followed them on the quick Oreiller-Killy downhill course, trying do disrupt the latest highlight in a resurgent season on the slopes for Canucks.
"We were sitting in the hot seat there for a while watching the good guys come down, just sort of sending mind bullets to them to help them slow down a little bit," said Guay, who finished second for his first podium of the season.
"I was telling Manny it's more stressful being in the finish watching the other guys come down than it is to be in the start hut."
It was even tougher for Osborne-Paradis, who finished third to add a bronze to the silver he won earlier this year.
"I was just standing there and there's only one guy that needs to come down to bump me off," he said. "It was a little more nerve-wracking. But it all worked out."
Guay skied the 3.15-kilometre run in one minute 56.63 seconds, 0.26 seconds behind Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin of France, who earned his first World Cup win. Osborne-Paradis clocked 1:56.69.
They're believed to be the first Canadian men to share a World Cup podium since Ed Podivinsky (gold) and Cary Mullen (silver) on Jan. 6th, 1994 at a downhill race in Austria.
Genevieve Simard and Allison Forsyth gave the Canadian women a 2-3 finish at a Giant Slalom in Italy on Jan. 8, 2005.
"That's absolutely incredible," said Guay. "It just shows the direction of the team, it shows that we have a lot of depth, on any given day we can have two guys on the podium."
It pushes the ski team's medal total up to eight this season - seven by the men - and moves them within four of the 200th World Cup podium in Canadian history.
The success has not gone unnoticed by other teams on the circuit.
"I definitely think they're taking us seriously," said Guay. "You can't deny we're one of the stronger teams out there, we've had medals in all disciplines this year, there's no reason to question us."
Added Osborne-Paradis: "We've always been a really nice team and everybody has talked to us and been our friends but they haven't really feared us. The Austrians, they come up and talk to us a lot more now. On an inspection we figure out lines together and there's little things like that where they wouldn't have done that before if we were not doing that well."
Dalcin's win ended a 12-year winless streak for French skiers in downhill at Val d'Isere, with Luc Alphand securing the last success in 1995.
"I always wondered what I would feel (after a win)," Dalcin said. "When it happens, it's a strong feeling. It's a relief to tell yourself that, when you look at the results, your name will be next to the number one."
Francois Bourque of New Richmond, Que., was 30th in 1:58.37, Jan Hudec of Calgary was 34th in 1:58.88, John Kucera of Calgary was 37th at 1:59.30 and Jeffrey Frisch of Mont-Tremblant, Que., was 50th at 2:01.02.
The podium was the fifth of Guay's career and his third in downhill. He hadn't been in the top-3 since 2005 and getting back to one was a relief.
"It was big, I've been struggling a bit this year," said Guay. "I think I might have put too much pressure on myself at the beginning of the year. The last couple of races it's been getting better and better.
"When I came here I just felt really focused and comfortable on my skis."
Both of Osborne-Paradis' career podiums have come this season and he has now met his goal of three top-10 finishes.
"When I started skiing, that's what I wanted to do is get on the podium at a World Cup race," said Osborne-Paradis. "This just proves that I can do it and that's the best feeling."
The day wasn't as successful for others.
On the top section of the course, American Bode Miller misjudged a turn, went inside on his skis and toppled over.
Miller refused to talk about his crash, but was in constant discussion with U.S. ski team officials over the radio, and teammates at the bottom of the course, as he tried to fathom why he fell.
"It wasn't even a hard turn," Miller said.
Despite failing to score any points, Miller - downhill winner at Wengen last weekend - remains third overall in the World Cup standings.
Miller used a U.S. ski official's radio to analyze his performance and was heard saying "at one stage I felt like I was tipping over backward."
Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway leads overall with 725 points, Didier Cuche of Switzerland - 10th on Saturday - is second with 677, and Miller has 640.
Cuche tops downhill standings with 436, followed by Marco Buechel of Liechtenstein (329), and Italy's Peter Fill (318). Osborne-Paradis is eighth, and Dalcin 10th.
"There's a lot of teams, now that we're more in the spotlight, that envy us because of the camaraderie within our team," said Osborne-Paradis. "We're all like best buddies and we're one of the only teams, us and the Americans, that have that."