The Canadian Press
Donna Spencer
Erik Guay phoned up the mountain to teammate Manuel Osborne-Paradis after laying down a winning time in the super-G at the world alpine ski championship yesteray.
His scouting report helped put two Canadian men on the world championship podium for the first time in the 44-year history of the biennial event.
At 35, Guay became the oldest skier to win a world alpine title.
Osborne-Paradis, meanwhile, collected the first world championship medal of his career with a bronze on his 33rd birthday.
“The fact that I’m able to share the podium with Manny really does make it that much more special,” Guay told The Canadian Press from St. Moritz, Switzerland.
“I knew I had to ski with a lot of intensity on this kind of course,” he noted. “[And] everything sort of fell into place today.
“I was good on the jumps, I was aerodynamic, and my line was on point.”
The father of three daughters from Mont-Tremblant, Que. edged Olympic champion Kjetil Jansrud of Norway by 0.45 seconds for the victory.
“Erik today showed us how it’s supposed to be done,” Jansrud said.
Osborne-Paradis of Invermere, B.C. finished 0.51 seconds back of his teammate.
He was serenaded by the finish-area crowd and got a hug from his mom.
Late in the start order with bib No. 26, Osborne-Paradis was minutes from pushing out of the start gate when Guay called with intelligence, telling him the course wasn’t fast and to attack it.
“You have a little bit more time between the gates to really think about it,” Osborne-Paradis said.
“It’s not as much reacting as it is powering the ski and going for it.”
Osborne-Paradis also helped break up Norway’s traditional super-G dominance by edging Aleksander Aamodt Kilde off the podium.
Canada’s only other multi-medal performance in a single world championship race was back in 1982 when Gerry Sorensen and Laurie Graham won gold and bronze, respectively, in women’s downhill.
Super-G, a speed event with more turns than a downhill race, was added to the world championship program in 1987.
Guay was the men’s world downhill champion in 2011. He’s also the most decorated Canadian in World Cup history with 24 career medals.
But he’s been working to regain his form since a pair of knee surgeries wiped out his 2014-15 season.
He’s earned a downhill and super-G bronze since then, but Guay’s victory yesterday was his first since a World Cup downhill in March, 2014.
“I crossed the finish line and I saw the reaction from the crowd, so I knew I was good. I didn’t know how good,” Guay said.
“I had tears in my eyes right away,” he added.
“Luckily I had goggles on so I don’t think anybody caught that, but yeah, it was quite emotional.”
