Canadians quick down the Saslong in final training run

Guay in Val Gardena training (GEPA/Wolfgang Grebien)

The unusually rough Saslaong course scheduled for the 50th men’s World Cup downhill race at Val Gardena, Italy this weekend provided a rugged test that seemed to suit the Canadians.

In training today (Dec. 19) Erik Guay registered the fastest time down the 2.14-mile track with teammate Manuel Osborne-Paradis in third behind Wednesday’s fastest skier, Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway. Peter Fill of Italy was fourth and American Travis Ganong was the fifth fastest.

Joahim Puchner was the fastest Austrian on the day in tenth. Last season’s winner Steven Nyman, the literal poster boy for the event this year, was 11th and Bode Miller 17th.

“It is best to be fully and mainly concentrated to ride this descent in training,” said Svindal, “otherwise it will be too dangerous.”

This was proved true by Dominik Paris, the winner from Kitzbuehel and Bormio last season, as he crashed hard in the first training run and did not start today. He is day-to-day with a muscle injury in the lower left leg.

Friday is race day in Val Gardena and all eyes will be on Svindal in the super G, as he has won the last two editions of the race. Only Austrian Michael Walchhofer has been able to do the same.

In addition, Norway has won 99 men’s races in World Cup history. Tomorrow Svindal and Kjetil Jansrud will both look to deliver the 100th victory for their country.

Downhill training results

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Total Time
1	17	102263	GUAY Erik	1981	CAN	1:57.48
2	19	421328	SVINDAL Aksel Lund	1982	NOR	1:57.70
3	26	102899	OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel	1984	CAN	1:58.20
4	24	292455	FILL Peter	1982	ITA	1:58.46
5	25	530874	GANONG Travis	1988	USA	1:58.65
6	11	421483	JANSRUD Kjetil	1985	NOR	1:58.86
7	34	201811	STECHERT Tobias	1985	GER	1:58.87
8	30	292514	HEEL Werner	1982	ITA	1:59.11
9	71	501076	OLSSON Hans	1984	SWE	1:59.19
10	27	51327	PUCHNER Joachim	1987	AUT	1:59.32
11	23	533866	NYMAN Steven	1982	USA	1:59.34
12	20	50753	KROELL Klaus	1980	AUT	1:59.38
13	52	194542	GIRAUD MOINE Valentin	1992	FRA	1:59.39
14	21	511139	KUENG Patrick	1984	SUI	1:59.41
15	7	51332	SCHEIBER Florian	1987	AUT	1:59.52
16	13	191740	CLAREY Johan	1981	FRA	1:59.59
17	9	532431	MILLER Bode	1977	USA	1:59.77
18	47	510890	ZURBRIGGEN Silvan	1981	SUI	1:59.83
19	14	53817	FRANZ Max	1989	AUT	1:59.84
20	10	50858	STREITBERGER Georg	1981	AUT	1:59.89
21	37	53981	KROELL Johannes	1991	AUT	1:59.92
22	16	510727	DEFAGO Didier	1977	SUI	1:59.98
23	49	54005	STRIEDINGER Otmar	1991	AUT	2:00.02
24	4	533131	SULLIVAN Marco	1980	USA	2:00.06
25	42	191591	BERTRAND Yannick	1980	FRA	2:00.18
26	33	202059	FERSTL Josef	1988	GER	2:00.25
26	22	50742	REICHELT Hannes	1980	AUT	2:00.25
28	28	561067	PERKO Rok	1985	SLO	2:00.27
29	58	201606	KEPPLER Stephan	1983	GER	2:00.29
29	18	192746	THEAUX Adrien	1984	FRA	2:00.29
29	6	51215	BAUMANN Romed	1986	AUT	2:00.29
32	15	293006	INNERHOFER Christof	1984	ITA	2:00.32
33	39	534939	FISHER Erik	1985	USA	2:00.36
34	3	53902	MAYER Matthias	1990	AUT	2:00.46
35	41	293141	VARETTONI Silvano	1984	ITA	2:00.57
36	45	380292	ZRNCIC-DIM Natko	1986	CRO	2:00.66
37	46	192932	FAYED Guillermo	1985	FRA	2:00.70
38	56	103385	PRIDY Conrad	1988	CAN	2:01.11
39	65	102961	DIXON Robbie	1985	CAN	2:01.21
39	51	53936	DUERAGER Markus	1990	AUT	2:01.21
41	8	191964	POISSON David	1982	FRA	2:01.27
42	1	560447	SPORN Andrej	1981	SLO	2:01.32
43	67	200379	SANDER Andreas	1989	GER	2:01.33
44	40	293550	MARSAGLIA Matteo	1985	ITA	2:01.35
45	35	103512	FRISCH Jeffrey	1984	CAN	2:01.37
46	36	511352	VILETTA Sandro	1986	SUI	2:01.44
47	38	511313	JANKA Carlo	1986	SUI	2:01.56
48	54	194167	MUZATON Maxence	1990	FRA	2:01.80
49	62	294277	KLOTZ Siegmar	1987	ITA	2:01.96
50	69	201987	STRODL Andreas	1987	GER	2:01.99
51	70	150398	BANK Ondrej	1980	CZE	2:02.00
52	61	103271	THOMSEN Benjamin	1987	CAN	2:02.06
53	50	990081	CASSE Mattia	1990	ITA	2:02.10
53	5	102271	HUDEC Jan	1981	CAN	2:02.10
55	2	194190	ROGER Brice	1990	FRA	2:02.12
56	57	501439	HEDIN Douglas	1990	SWE	2:02.32
57	12	511383	FEUZ Beat	1987	SUI	2:02.33
58	53	103612	PRIDY Morgan	1990	CAN	2:02.39
59	63	202196	BRANDNER Klaus	1990	GER	2:02.40
60	64	53980	KRIECHMAYR Vincent	1991	AUT	2:02.42
61	59	193034	BOUILLOT Alexandre	1985	FRA	2:02.44
62	68	422139	KILDE Aleksander Aamodt	1992	NOR	2:02.51
63	48	481705	GLEBOV Alexander	1983	RUS	2:02.91
64	55	53837	KRAMER Manuel	1989	AUT	2:02.95
65	66	491151	DE LA CUESTA Paul	1988	SPA	2:03.04
66	72	561217	KOSI Klemen	1991	SLO	2:03.29
67	44	934643	GOLDBERG Jared	1991	USA	2:03.35
68	43	934518	DANIELS Nick	1991	USA	2:03.47
69	80	170131	FAARUP Christoffer	1992	DAN	2:03.51
70	60	510997	BERTHOD Marc	1983	SUI	2:03.96
71	75	20267	ESTEVE Kevin	1989	AND	2:04.74
72	77	660021	DANILOCHKIN Yuri	1991	BLR	2:05.00
73	78	670058	KOSHKIN Dmitriy	1986	KAZ	2:05.13
74	79	400237	MEINERS Maarten	1992	NED	2:05.47
75	81	430472	KLUSAK Michal	1990	POL	2:05.62
76	76	670037	ZAKURDAEV Igor	1987	KAZ	2:06.29
77	73	530939	WEIBRECHT Andrew	1986	USA	2:14.20
Did not start 1st run
	74	192504	MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas	1984	FRA
	32	534562	LIGETY Ted	1984	USA
	31	380260	KOSTELIC Ivica	1979	CRO
	29	291459	PARIS Dominik	1989	ITA

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.”