Osborne-Paradis leads record Canadian SG score

By Published On: November 29th, 2009Comments Off on Osborne-Paradis leads record Canadian SG score

It was a bittersweet win for the home team at Lake Louise Sunday (Nov. 29).

Manny Osborne-Paradis took advantage of an early start number to hold-off a pair of redemption minded Austrians and was joined by Canadian Cowboy teammates Erik Guay in fourth and Robbie Dixon in fifth for the strongest World Cup super G result ever, but they may have lost World Champion John Kucera after he slid off course and was airlifted away. Team Director Max Gartner was quoted reporting there was “something seriously wrong” with the 24 year old downhill champ.

The Austrians pushed two skiers onto the podium after being shut-out in Saturday’s downhill. Benjamin Raich matched a career best super G result in second and Michael Walchhofer was third.

The Americans had to do with Ted Ligety in eighth place, one spot shy of his career super G best. Andrew Weibrecht continued his good skiing snagging 12th place and Marco Sullivan was 15th for some respectable placings.

Bode Miller failed to score which was not surprising considering a decided lack of speed training. It seemed apparent he was concentrating on line and tactics rather than speed.

“I just pushed it,” said Osborne-Paradise. “I made lots of mistakes but I made sure the skis were always running cleanly and down the fall line and it worked out really well.”

Yes, well enough for the first World Cup win at Lake Louise by a Canadian male since Jan Hudec claimed the downhill in November of 2007. A bit of a home-team advantage, similar to what they hope to enjoy during the Olympic speed races in February, may have played a role in the out-come.

“It’s not an easy super G here at all,” Osborne-Paradise said. “It’s quite fast and the gates come at you fast.  I think it’s (all about) confidence. You just have to keep attacking, I was just able to move forward and press on my outside ski when I needed to and  just make the ski do what I need to do when I needed it.

“It’s a balls-out kind of racing here, you get an inspection and you go for it.”

An overcast and blustery day – not uncommon in the last few seasons at Lake Louise – made course familiarity all the more important. Ligety said he tried to focus on making clean turns. “I’m happy with it for sure,” he said. “It’s tough with all the wind and light changing. … I’m happy to be in there.”

“Getting second place here is very exciting to me,” said Raich, much better known for his skills in GS and slalom. “It’s a great result. I made a good run . … It was clean and felt good.”

Aksel Lund Svindal, the defending overall and super G champion is nursing a sore leg and was content with a 14th place finish., indicating he skied more as a warm up for Beaver Creek next weekend.

“The doctors were kind of negative about me skiing here so in that way it’s way better than it could have been,” the likable Norwegian star said. “To go to Beaver Creek not having done one turn in six weeks. … Beaver Creek is too tough for that so I felt like I needed to get a little bit done before I get there.”

Dixon, better than his fifth place finish only once in his relatively short career, said he had scared himself during his run, barely navigating the gate coming out of the steepest section of the course, Gun Barrel. “I stuck with it and fought to the end,” he said, calling the fifth place result “awesome” under the circumstances. He spoke for his teammates when voicing concern about their fallen leader, Kucera.

“We are such a tight team and we feed off of each other and with Johnny and I hope there is nothing wrong because if there is it’s going to be a huge blow, he’s skiing so well and he’s just and all-around amazing skier so I hope nothing bad has happened.”

Kucera underwent surgery Sunday night for a fractured tibia and fibula in his left leg at Banff Mineral Springs Hospital. He is not expected to return this season.

Manny Osborne-Paradis photo by GEPA

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men’s super G, Lake Louise, Nov. 29, 2009
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Osborne-Paradis, Rossignol/Rossignol/Tyrolia
2 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Walchhofer, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Guay, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5 Dixon, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
6 Theaux, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
6 Janka, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Ligety, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
9 Defago, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
10 Cuche, Head/Head/Head

Men’s super G, Lake Louise, Canada, Nov. 29, 2009. … It is the fourth race of 34 on the men’s 2009-2010 World Cup season. … It is the first of six scheduled super G’s. … It is the second of two men’s World Cup races scheduled at Lake Louise this season and the second of five total races planned for the site. … It is the 72nd Cup race hosted by Lake Louise. … the 26th super G and the 11th men’s super G. … Last season’s men’s SG was won by Hermann Maier, his 54th and final career Cup victory before retiring prior to this season. … overcast and windy. … Winning margin is .23 of a second. … Top 10 skiers are within the same second.

It is the second career World Cup win for Manuel Osborne-Paradis, the previous a DH win at Kvitfjell last March. … He betters his mark at Lake Louise by one, having been second in the Nov. 25, 2006 DH. … He leads a record Cup SG showing for Canada 1-4-5 with Erik Guay and Robbie Dixon.

It is the 82nd career World Cup podium for Benjamin Raich his fifth in super G. … He has been second in SG four times and has never won. … Three of those four second place SG finishes have come at Lake Louise.

It is the 41st career World Cup podium for Michael Walchhofer. … Just his sixth in super G, but this third at Lake Louise. … These are the second and third men’s podiums of the season for Austria.

It is the 13th time Erik Guay has placed fourth or better in a World Cup, fifth in SG and the rest in downhill. … Fifth matches the second best career Cup result for Robbie Dixon. … He was fifth in DH at Kvitfjell in March 2009 and fourth at the same site in SG in March 2008. … It is the 41st time Ted Ligety has been eighth or better in a World Cup race. … but just the second time in SG. … The other a seventh at Beaver Creek in December 2008. … It is the fourth time Andrew Weibrecht has been in the top 12 of a World Cup race in nine scoring races. …It is the second time he finished 12 for the weekend, having also ranked 12 for the downhill. … It is the 24th time Marco Sullivan has been in the top 15 of a World Cup race. … It is his fourth best of six scoring results at Lake Louise. … It is the fifth career scoring result for Erik Fisher. … His first at Lake Louise. … It is the 22nd time Francois Bourque has scored in a World Cup SG. … It is his fourth score at Lake Louise, three of them in SG. … It is the 18th career scoring result for Jan Hudec. … His seventh at Lake Louise.

Didier Cuche (10th in race) maintains his lead of the overall World Cup standings 226-165 over Raich. … Carlo Janka (sixth in race) is third at 160. … Ligety is the top North American in fifth at 125, Osborne-Paradis sixth at 115.

Place   Lake
Louise
(CAN)
  Discipline   Super G
Date   29.11.2009   Category   FIS World Cup
Race codex   0341   Gender   M
Valid for FIS Points   YES   TD Name   Turton Fred (USA)
       
  
Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time FIS Points
 1  7  102899 OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel  1984  CAN   1:32.93  0.00
 2  11  50625 RAICH Benjamin  1978  AUT   1:33.17  2.74
 3  21  50041 WALCHHOFER Michael  1975  AUT   1:33.55  7.07
 4  13  102263 GUAY Erik  1981  CAN   1:33.68  8.55
 5  28  102961 DIXON Robbie  1985  CAN   1:33.72  9.01
 6  42  192746 THEAUX Adrien  1984  FRA   1:33.79  9.81
 6  15  511313 JANKA Carlo  1986  SUI   1:33.79  9.81
 8  3  534562 LIGETY Ted  1984  USA   1:33.87  10.72
 9  18  510727 DEFAGO Didier  1977  SUI   1:33.88  10.84
 10  19  510030 CUCHE Didier  1974  SUI   1:33.92  11.29
 11  17  293006 INNERHOFER Christof  1984  ITA   1:34.00  12.20
 12  26  530939 WEIBRECHT Andrew  1986  USA   1:34.04  12.66
 13  1  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica  1979  CRO   1:34.07  13.00
 14  20  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   1:34.08  13.12
 15  14  533131 SULLIVAN Marco  1980  USA   1:34.20  14.49
 16  12  510747 GRUENENFELDER Tobias  1977  SUI   1:34.22  14.71
 17  22  292514 HEEL Werner  1982  ITA   1:34.30  15.63
 18  10  50753 KROELL Klaus  1980  AUT   1:34.46  17.45
 18  2  50858 STREITBERGER Georg  1981  AUT   1:34.46  17.45
 20  9  510767 HOFFMANN Ambrosi  1977  SUI   1:34.63  19.39
 21  57  201811 STECHERT Tobias  1985  GER   1:34.68  19.96
 22  49  201987 STRODL Andreas  1987  GER   1:34.73  20.53
 23  48  534939 FISHER Erik  1985  USA   1:34.75  20.76
 24  40  191591 BERTRAND Yannick  1980  FRA   1:34.83  21.67
 25  27  500150 JAERBYN Patrik  1969  SWE   1:34.91  22.58
 26  63  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil  1985  NOR   1:35.01  23.73
 27  5  102814 BOURQUE Francois  1984  CAN   1:35.05  24.18
 28  37  51332 SCHEIBER Florian  1987  AUT   1:35.08  24.52
 29  35  102271 HUDEC Jan  1981  CAN   1:35.11  24.87
 30  53  511139 KUENG Patrick  1984  SUI   1:35.17  25.55
 30  4  290998 STAUDACHER Patrick  1980  ITA   1:35.17  25.55
 32  24  560406 GORZA Ales  1980  SLO   1:35.20  25.89
 33  31  510890 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan  1981  SUI   1:35.26  26.58
 34  36  103090 HELIE Louis-Pierre  1986  CAN   1:35.33  27.38
 35  47  191116 DALCIN Pierre-Emmanuel  1977  FRA   1:35.40  28.17
 36  56  501076 OLSSON Hans  1984  SWE   1:35.44  28.63
 37  60  380292 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko  1986  CRO   1:35.53  29.66
 38  6  560332 JERMAN Andrej  1978  SLO   1:35.55  29.88
 39  30  532431 MILLER Bode  1977  USA   1:35.57  30.11
 40  59  421400 MYHRE Lars Elton  1984  NOR   1:35.59  30.34
 41  29  51005 SCHEIBER Mario  1983  AUT   1:35.60  30.46
 42  41  533762 TRANSUE Jeremy  1983  USA   1:35.87  33.53
 43  64  511383 FEUZ Beat  1987  SUI   1:36.07  35.82
 44  32  150421 ZAHROBSKY Petr  1980  CZE   1:36.10  36.16
 45  45  561067 PERKO Rok  1985  SLO   1:36.25  37.87
 46  66  292491 MOELGG Manfred  1982  ITA   1:36.26  37.98
 47  58  220695 CRAWFORD Douglas  1987  GBR   1:36.37  39.24
 48  67  480736 HOROSHILOV Alexandr  1984  RUS   1:37.10  47.56
 49  68  491151 DE LA CUESTA Paul  1988  SPA   1:37.39  50.87
 50  69  700724 BABUSIAK Jaroslav  1984  SVK   1:39.84  78.82
 51  71  90047 GEORGIEV Stefan  1977  BUL   1:39.89  79.39
Did not finish 1st run
     510498 ZUEGER Cornel  1981  SUI     
     40171 BRANCH Craig  1977  AUS     
     530874 GANONG Travis  1988  USA     
     150398 BANK Ondrej  1980  CZE     
     53837 KRAMER Manuel  1989  AUT     
     430429 BYDLINSKI Maciej  1988  POL     
     350032 BUECHEL Marco  1971  LIE     
     561085 KRIZAJ Andrej  1986  SLO     
     51215 BAUMANN Romed  1986  AUT     
     102873 KUCERA John  1984  CAN     
     201606 KEPPLER Stephan  1983  GER     
     50742 REICHELT Hannes  1980  AUT     
     560447 SPORN Andrej  1981  SLO     
     533866 NYMAN Steven  1982  USA     
     201542 STRODL Peter  1982  GER     
     50833 GRUGGER Hans  1981  AUT     
     292291 THANEI Stefan  1981  ITA     
     50600 GOERGL Stephan  1978  AUT     
     532490 MACARTNEY Scott  1978  USA     
     291459 PARIS Dominik  1989  ITA   

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About the Author: Hank McKee

In memoriam: The veteran of the staff, McKee started with Ski Racing in 1980. Over the seasons, he covered virtually every aspect of the sport, from the pro tours to junior racing, freestyle and World Cup alpine competition. He wrote the first national stories for many U.S. team stars, and was still around to report on their retirements. “Longevity has its rewards,” he said, “but it’s a slow process.”