INTERVIEW FROM GARMISCH
Canada’s new ski star in interview: following his first World Cup downhill victory in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Erik Guay, 25, spoke about his feelings before the start, sibling rivalry – and why the Germans and Swiss also quake in their boots off piste when confronting the Canadian team.
Nice hairstyle, Erik. What are the reactions to your mohawk, which you had cut to celebrate the World Championship silver medal of your team-mate Jan Hudec? Half of the people who see it think it’s cool, the other half think it’s awful. Personally I like it more every day. I’ll probably keep it like this.
In the last three World Cup races you’ve stood on the podium three times. Has it got to do with the old ritual of your girlfriend, who always puts her underwear in your luggage to bring you luck? No, that’s history, we’ve split up. I’m now single – and I was never superstitious anyway. Instead, after my injury, I worked very intensely and seriously on my comeback. It’s now paying off.
Being in top condition helped you on the technically very demanding course in Garmisch to your first World Cup victory. Which moment of that day will stay in your memory forever? When I crossed the finishing line and looked at the scoreboard and saw the “1” flashing. I instinctively knew that nobody would beat my best time – that was a fantastic feeling ...
... especially as you became the first Canadian World Cup winner since 1994. To what extent did that influence your public image back in Canada? I haven’t been home yet, but my mailbox and my e-mail account were full the next day, and my myspace page also had an incredible number of new entries. Let’s wait and see what I’m up against in the National Championships ...
You always get feedback on your races from your father, coach of the regional team of Quebec. How satisfied was he with your winning race in Garmisch? Of all the races, that’s the one he missed unfortunately. But Dad never judges my performance anywhere near as critically as I do myself: I’m permanently looking for details that could make me even faster.
Your brother Stefan, who’s five years younger than you, was the Junior World Champion in giant slalom in 2006. In which disciplines do you still carry out your sibling rivalry? Occasionally we race each other in our cars on a sealed-off course, but otherwise we generally have different interests: he likes going wakeboarding in summer, I prefer cycling and playing football.
Can you describe what the final two hours before a race are like? First of all I do warm-up training and get the adrenalin pumping with music from AC/DC and Metallica. I have to remember to drink lots, so that I don’t dehydrate. The nearer it gets to the start of the race, the more my heart starts racing, and a bullfight rages in my stomach. I try to calm myself down somehow and go over the course in my mind a thousand times. Then it’s show time ...
The Canadian ski team doesn’t only need nerves of steel on the piste but also in the team hotel – after all, you’re renowned for your poker-playing skills. Who did you beat most recently? Most recently a few guys from the German and Swiss teams had it coming to them. But the challenge is getting harder: the other teams have really started to improve ...