Guay’s comeback season culminates in World Cup Finals podium
Feature photo: Erik Guay celebrates his men’s downhill bronze at the FIS World Cup Finals, in St. Moritz, Switzerland on March 16, 2016. (Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone via AP)
Erik Guay raced his way back onto a downhill podium, after finishing third at the final FIS World Cup downhill of the season in St. Moritz, Switzerland on Wednesday.
Overcoming injury, a coaching change and equipment modifications this season, Guay held nothing back, nailing the bottom section of the course after a strong start to finish in a time of one minute 40.98 seconds to place third for his first podium finish of the season after missing all of 2014-15.
Erik Guay celebrates with the men’s downhill medallists at the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Finals, in St. Moritz, Switzerland on March 16, 2016. (Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone via AP)
“I felt the skiing was coming all year, despite a few injuries, I was just working to build the momentum and it paid off today so I’m happy,” Guay told Alpine Canada. “For me, it’s not the end of a season but the start of a new one. At the start of this season I had some equipment changes and a new serviceman, along with a new coach, so there was lots of fine tuning to do but I feel pretty dialed in now and I almost wish the season was prolonged for a bit.”
Read: Erik Guay sidelined for the season
Crowd favourite Beat Fuez won the competition on home snow after racing to 1:40.44, while Steve Nyman from the United states raced to a silver after clocking a 1:40.52 run.
Larisa Yurkiw also brought home hardware from the final FIS downhill event, after finishing third in the overall World Cup standings. The Canadian’s downhill season included three straight podium finishes (bronze at Val d’Isere, silver in Altenmarkt, silver in Cortina d’Ampezzo), leading to her being named Alpine Canada’s female alpine Athlete of the Year.
Canadians will head back on the hill on Thursday for the final super-G events of the season.
