Sport Shorts: No Olympic Hangover Here
Gold for Guay: Fresh from two outstanding results at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, alpine skier Erik Guay went out and won a World Cup this past weekend. His super-G gold medal in Kvitfjell, NOR delivers Guay the rare status of being just the second Canadian man to win World Cup gold in downhill and super-G over the course of his career. (The other is 2010 Olympic teammate Manuel Osborne-Paradis, who was 11th this weekend.)
“I took some chances and finally it paid off,” said the Mont-Tremblant, Que. Guay had two fifth-place results in Whistler last month, one of which in super-G was 0.02 seconds back of bronze. Guay sits now in third spot overall in World Cup super-G, and should he win a medal in the final race has an outside chance at the title.
Emily Brydon (Fernie, B.C.) posted a pair of good results, finishing 11th in downhill on Saturday and 15th in super-G on Sunday in Crans Montana, SUI.
Silver for Cline, Del Bosco: Ski cross racer Aleisha Cline (Squamish, B.C.) captured a silver medal on Saturday at a World Cup in Branas, SWE. It is her first medal of the season. She zipped past Olympic silver medallist Hedda Berntsen in the final race. Cline did not compete at the Olympic Winter Games, but was there as a commentator for CTV. Kelsa Serwa (Kelowna, B.C.) was sixth while Calgary’s Danielle Poleschuk was 11th and Whistler’s Ashleigh McIvor (Olympic champion) was 13th.
Her teammate Chris Del Bosco, who finished fourth at the Games, won the silver medal at this World Cup, less than the length of a ski behind the winner – and Olympic champion – Michael Schmid. At Cypress Mountain last month, Del Bosco (Vail, Colorado) memorably took a risk at going for silver or even gold on the final stretch of the final race but suffered a crash. He was in bronze medal position at the time. Toronto’s Nic Zoricic finished eighth, a career high for him, while Stanley Hayer (Kimberly, B.C.) was 10th, Brian Bennett (Quesnel, B.C.) was 26th and Davey Barr (Brackendale, B.C.) was 33rd.
Silver for Heil: Olympic silver medallist Jenn Heil (Spruce Grove, Alta.) won silver in freestyle moguls at a World Cup Sunday in Nawashiro, JPN. Amid thick fog, Heil won her sixth medal in her past six starts, and she sits atop the World Cup standings with 565 points. (American Heather McPhie is second with 466 points.) Teammate Alex Bilodeau (Rosemere, Que.) was leading the men’s event, which was then called off because the fog settled too heavily over the course.
