Are: Canadians Roy, Kucera shine in GS

One had a week from hell. The other has had a miserable racing season. But a pair of Canadians experienced a ray of hope Wednesday at the World Championships with stellar performances in the men’s giant slalom.
ARE, Sweden — One had a week from hell. The other has had a miserable racing season.
    But a pair of Canadians experienced a ray of hope Wednesday at the World Championships with stellar performances in the men’s giant slalom.
    Jean-Philippe Roy, 27, and John Kucera, 22, finished the race in seventh and 12th place, respectively.
    Both came into the event with nothing to lose.
    Both gained much-needed FIS points.
    Both got their racing groove back.
    Roy, a World Championships veteran from Ste. Flavie, Canada, has struggled this year. In fact he’s had a dismal year.
    Roy either hasn’t finished or hasn’t qualified in a giant slalom or slalom at a World Cup stop in almost a year.
    “I’ve had a really hard time this season and I almost thought about stopping skiing,” Roy said. “I could be fast in training, but never in a race and it was hard mentally.”
    Roy has participated in five World Championships, including Are. And his best showing at worlds: seventh-place here in giant slalom, followed by an eighth place in the combined at St. Anton, Austria, in 2001.
    “I’ve been in a position like this every time in the World Championships [in giant slalom] and have never finished a second run,” he said.
    Roy’s last World Championships in Bormio, Italy, were memorable, but for the wrong reasons. He was third in the giant slalom after his first run. Then in the second run, he blew out his knee.
    Wednesday might have been Valentine’s Day, but the only anniversary Roy was thinking about was two years ago to the day when he had knee surgery to repair the damage he suffered on the Bormio course.
    Did two years ago weigh heavy on his mind?
    “I was nervous at the start [Wednesday]. Between runs I was just trying to focus on what I technically can do and have fun and just enjoy it,” he said. “The course was really nice.”
    Roy was solid in both giant slalom races. He was 11th-fastest in the first run and 13th-fastest in the second. He started the race in 31st.
    Roy said he got in some good slalom training recently in Kitzbühel, Austria, and that helped him get his slalom back.
    “We also had some good training runs here in Are and I really liked it,” he said of the icy, compact snow.
    “I was thinking at the beginning of the season that this is the best I feel, even though the year I was my best I didn’t feel as confident,” he said. “…Yes it was a great day.”
    Kucera probably feels like his stars weren’t aligned the entire week leading up to the giant slalom at the Are World Championships.
    “I was really bad in super G [30th]. The downhill wasn’t going my way [31st]. And the combined [32nd], my downhill sucked and then in the slalom portion I crashed,” Kucera said. “Things weren’t working and I was getting really frustrated.”
    But the young sparkplug from Calgary said he was relieved to finally get in a good run at Are to “boost my confidence heading into the rest of the season.”
    Kucera started the Wednesday giant slalom at 22nd. He had the 28th-fastest time in the first run, but blistered the second run, getting the fastest time and beating the likes of Norwegian GS gold medalist Aksel Lund Svindal and U.S. tech speedman Ted Ligety.
    “In the first run, I made some mistakes in the middle part and then barely made the top 30. Second run I just went for it, because I had nothing to lose,” he said. “I skied like I know how to ski and it’s a good way to finally end this trip.”
    An all-rounder, Kucera has high expectations. He won the gold in the super G in November at Lake Louise, Canada, and the bronze in the same event in December at Gardena, Italy. He also got fifth place in the giant slalom in December in Alta Badia, Italy.
    Kucera said he told himself Wednesday that if he wanted to make some points, he’d better do something fast.
    “To me, I didn’t really care if I skied out, I just had to ski fast and it turned out well,” he said.
    And how about the rest of his Canadian compadres?
    “Our little Canadian cowboy squad is picking it up. We’re getting close and it’s coming,” he said. “We’re still one of youngest groups out there and with more experience you’ll see more consistency and we’ll start plugging.”