It was the most unlikely scenario. Erik Guay won the final super G of the season in the World Cup Finals at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany  and moved past two skiers, Michael Walchhofer of Austria and Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway to claim the first Canadian title since Steve Podborski tied for the downhill title in 1982.

Anyone who saw that coming was being over optimistic. True, Guay has been on fire since the Olympics where he finished fifth in both the downhill and super G. At Kvitfjell, Norway, he won both training runs then was ninth in downhill but followed up with a super G win and a third in the downhill at Garmisch, the opening race of Finals.

But he needed more than the win to get this job done. He needed Ivica Kostelic to ski the super G run of his life to take second place and keep Svindal away from 20 more points. And he needed Walchhofer to finish worse than eighth. Neither seemed likely, yet both occurred.

Of course the first task was to win the race and that wasn’t easy either. Guay ignored a steady snowfall and kept the hammer down the length of the fabled Kandahar 2 course for the win.

“I was so far back,” an astounded Guay said, “I had a great run. I took maximum chances and it paid off. It was wild.”

He said at least he knew exactly what he had to do. “I had the easier role. I knew I was 70pts behind and knew I absolutely had to win. I knew I needed to go as hard as I could and take as many risks as I could.”

His run, he said, was far from perfect, though he won by a relatively large margin. “I was right on the limit,” he said. “A number of times I  thought might make miss the gate. There’s always mistakes. When you make no mistakes then you aren’t taking enough risk. I took a lot of chance. Looking back, I took the risks necessary.”

The odds-on favorite for the title, standings leader Michael Walchhofer, had been more than 60pts ahead before the race, but skied too cautiously and finished 15th narrowly avoiding getting shut out of the points completely. An eighth or better would have sealed the deal.

Walchhofer told Austrian reporters it was “a botched race,” and said his whole season had been similar to the race. He lost the title by 15 points, or .31 of a second, the time he needed for eighth place.

Also a bit too cautious was Carlo Janka in his bid to stay ahead of Benjamin Raich for the overall World Cup title. His advantage was suppose to be the speed events, which he maximized by winning the downhill that Raich skipped. But Raich picked up sixth on the day a little more than a second behind Guay and Janka placed 11th and his lead has shrunk to 38pts. Although both are winning GS skiers, Raich’s slalom rankings are much better than Janka’s.

Raich wasn’t about to accept any premature congratulations. “We can both do well,” he said. “Carlo is very strong in the giant slalom, I can also be fast and maybe I have an edge in the slalom. I am not making any predictions.”

The biggest cheers of the day went to the last place finisher, Marco Buechel of Liechtenstein. He finished nearly a full minute off Guay’s time in a pair of shorts, a sports coat and tie, stopping enroute to shake hands with course workers. At 38 he has elected retirement.

Cover Photo by GEPA
Photo of (from left) Ivica Kostelic, Erik Guay and Aksel Lund Svindal by GEPA
Photo of Marco Buechel by GEPA.

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men’s super G, World Cup Finals, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, March 11, 2010
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Guay, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
3 Svindal, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Reichelt, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
5 Streitberger, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
6 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Defago, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
8 Scheiber, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9 Cuche, Head/Head/Head
10 Staudacher, Head/Head/Head

Men’s super G, World Cup Finals, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany March 11, 2010. … It is the 32nd race of the men’s 34 race 2010 World Cup schedule. … The sixth and final super G. … It is the third race of the eight race Finals. …It is the 85th World Cup race hosted by Garmisch. … the 23rd SG.

It is the third career World Cup win for Erik Guay and his second in SG and his second in SG in a week, having also won Kvitfjell March 7. … He has been on the podium in his last three races.

It is the 33rd career World Cup podium for Ivica Kostelic but his first in super G. … His previous best had been eighth, scored twice at Whistler and Bormio in 2008. … It is his seventh podium of the season including the double silver medal performance at the Olympics.

It is the 29th career World Cup podium for Aksel Lund Svindal. … His tenth in super G. … It is his ninth podium result of the season including three Olympic medals (1 of each color). … It is his first podium result scored at Garmisch.

Guay wins the 2010 World Cup super G title 331-316 over Michael Walchhofer (15th in race). … Svindal finishes third with 314pts. … Top American on the final SG list is Ted Ligety (16th in race) in 14th with 119pts. … Carlo Janka (11th in race) maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 1097-1059 over Benjamin Raich (6th in race). … Didier Cuche (9th in race) is third with 907 and Svindal fourth 883. … With two races remaining Svindal cannot win the title. … Top North American on the overall list is Ted Ligety in seventh with 607pts. … Guay leads the Canadians in 13th with 487pts.