The rash of injuries has struck the Canadians as hard as any nation, but Manuel Oborne-Paradis is doing his bit to ensure his countrymen have good reason to tune into the Winter Olympics being hosted at Vancouver and Whistler. Osborne-Paradis collected his third career World Cup win, and his first on the European continent Saturday (Dec. 19) winning the 48th Cup downhill at Val Gardena, Italy.
“My target was to make the podium,” Osborne-Paradis told CTV, “but to win. … It’s great ahead of the Olympics.”
Second went to Mario Scheiber, the seventh time the Austrian has finished a Cup race in the bridesmaid spot without collecting a win. Swiss Ambrosi Hoffmann and Frenchman Johan Clarey tied for third, a quarter of a second off the time of Osborne-Paradis.
The Canadians also got sixth place from Robbie Dixon and his placing might have been better save for a mistake at the 1:30 mark of the two minute course. Erik Guay chipped in 11th rounding out a strong showing for a squad which lost it’s leader, World Downhill champ John Kucera, three weeks ago and Francois Bourque yesterday.
While the day didn’t live up to last season’s Val Gardena performance when the U.S. men set a record with five in the top 10, it wasn’t that bad either. Bode Miller finished ninth, Marco Sullivan 12th, Steven Nyman 18th and Erik Fisher 19th. Scott Macartney in 23rd and Andrew Weibrecht 24th padded the U.S. point total.
A head wind, cold slower snow and a light dusting of fresh may have contributed to the final outcome as three of the four podium placings all started between sixth and ninth and had the best conditions of the day.
“There are two ingredients you need, besides your skiing, to win here,” said Miller saying one was fast skis and the other the start position. “That little stretch of guys had favorable conditions,” he said with a hint of a laugh. “(Didier) Cuche said he skied well, I skied error free and (Michael) Walchhofer said he couldn’t have skied any better and we’re all a ways back.”
Cuche wound up tenth and Walchhofer fifth.
“All of those top guy, right when they went, had a headwind,” said U.S. coach Sasha Rearick, “especially over the Camels.”
The coach figured getting six in the top 24 was “… a lot better than we have been doing,” and concluded he was generally pleased with the effort of his racers.
“They were more relaxed and also attacked the hill more,” he said. Having a couple of strong performances from racers returning from injury was nice, too. He said Steven Nyman was “feeling the hill, feeling the skis,” said said Scott Macartney “found the gas pedal today. He attacked the hill and it was really great to see him charging the mountain.”
Every nation was relieved to see there were no injuries in the event and no did not finishes. There were, however, two did not starts including Italian Werner Heel. According to reports he will miss 20 days after a sustaining a left knee injury in the super G on Friday. Also rejecting the start was Slovene Andrej Jerman. – Hank McKee
Osborne-Paradis photos by GEPA
The SCOOP
By Hank McKee
Equipment
Men’s Downhill, Val Gardena, Italy, Dec. 19, 2009
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Osborne-Paradis, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
2 Scheiber, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Hoffmann, Head/Lange/Head
3 Clarey, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
5 Walchhofer, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Dixon, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
7 Buechel, Head/Lange/Head
7 Olsson, Head/Head/Head
9 Miller, Head/Head/Head
10 Cuche, Head/Head/Head
Men’s Downhill, Val Gardena (Groeden) Italy, Dec. 19, 2009. … It is the 12th race of the men’s 35 race 2009-2010 World Cup schedule. … The third of eight scheduled downhills. … It is the 48th World Cup DH held at Val Gardena/Groden, including the 1970 World Championships. … The 47th men’s DH. … It is the 69th Cup race held at least in part at the site. … Kristian Ghedina and Franz Klammer hold the DH win mark for Val Gardena at four.
It is the third career World Cup win for Manuel Osborne-Paradis. … And his second of the season having on the Lake Louise SG Nov. 29. … His only previous DH win came at the tail end of last season at Kvitfjell March 6. … It is the 66th Cup win for Canada. … The 41st in downhill. … Rob Boyd was the last Canadian to win the Val Gardena DH, accomplishing the feat in December of 1986 and 1987.
It is the 11th World Cup podium for Mario Scheiber and the seventh time he has finished second in a Cup race without getting his first win.
It is the sixth career World cup podium for Ambrosi Hoffmann and he has never recorded a Cup win. … It is his second podium at Val Gardena having finished third in super G Dec. 16, 2005. … It is the first career Cup podium for Johan Clarey, his best previous result a sixth in DH at Kvitfjell in 2007. … Two of his best three races have come at Val Gardena as he was 11th in last season’s downhill.
Robbie Dixon matches his fourth best career score in sixth place. … He has yet to tally a podium but has now been fourth once, fifth twice and sixth twice, all of those results coming in the last calendar year. … It is the 134th World Cup top 10 for Bode Miller. … the 41st in downhill. … It is his tenth top 10 result at Val Gardena. … It is the 46th top 11 placing for Erik Guay. … His third this season. … It is the 16th time Marco Sullivan has scored in thee top 12 of a World Cup. … It is his best finish of the season. … It is the 26th top 20 placing for Steven Nyman. … his first score of the season. … and his fifth best career result at Val Gardena where he won the downhill in 2006. …. It is the third best career result for Erik Fisher, but second best at Val Gardena after placing seventh a year ago. … Three of his four best results have come at the site. … It is the 33rd scoring result for Scott Macartney’s career and the first of the season. … His only DH podium came at Val Gardena in December 2007. … It is the 13th career scoring result for Andrew Weibrecht. … The sixth this season. … It was his first result this season outside the top 20.
Carlo Janka (did not race) leads the World Cup overall standings 540-515 over Benjamin Raich (did not race). … Didier Cuche (10th in race) is third at 410. … Ted Ligety (did not race) is sixth at 281. … Osborne-Paradis leads the Canadians in ninth at 242. … Cuche leads the DH standings over Janka 206-160 … Walchhofer (5th in race) is third at 140 and Osborne-Paradis fourth at 118. … Bode Miller in ninth with 81 leads the U.S.
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| Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Total Time | FIS Points |
| 1 | 9 | 102899 | OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel | 1984 | CAN | 2:01.27 | 0.00 |
| 2 | 25 | 51005 | SCHEIBER Mario | 1983 | AUT | 2:01.40 | 1.42 |
| 3 | 8 | 510767 | HOFFMANN Ambrosi | 1977 | SUI | 2:01.52 | 2.72 |
| 3 | 6 | 191740 | CLAREY Johan | 1981 | FRA | 2:01.52 | 2.72 |
| 5 | 19 | 50041 | WALCHHOFER Michael | 1975 | AUT | 2:01.75 | 5.22 |
| 6 | 27 | 102961 | DIXON Robbie | 1985 | CAN | 2:01.77 | 5.44 |
| 7 | 12 | 350032 | BUECHEL Marco | 1971 | LIE | 2:01.83 | 6.10 |
| 7 | 11 | 501076 | OLSSON Hans | 1984 | SWE | 2:01.83 | 6.10 |
| 9 | 22 | 532431 | MILLER Bode | 1977 | USA | 2:02.04 | 8.38 |
| 10 | 20 | 510030 | CUCHE Didier | 1974 | SUI | 2:02.12 | 9.25 |
| 11 | 10 | 102263 | GUAY Erik | 1981 | CAN | 2:02.13 | 9.36 |
| 12 | 5 | 533131 | SULLIVAN Marco | 1980 | USA | 2:02.16 | 9.69 |
| 13 | 31 | 560447 | SPORN Andrej | 1981 | SLO | 2:02.20 | 10.12 |
| 14 | 38 | 511139 | KUENG Patrick | 1984 | SUI | 2:02.26 | 10.78 |
| 15 | 1 | 500150 | JAERBYN Patrik | 1969 | SWE | 2:02.41 | 12.41 |
| 16 | 26 | 51215 | BAUMANN Romed | 1986 | AUT | 2:02.51 | 13.50 |
| 17 | 17 | 421328 | SVINDAL Aksel Lund | 1982 | NOR | 2:02.54 | 13.82 |
| 18 | 24 | 533866 | NYMAN Steven | 1982 | USA | 2:02.55 | 13.93 |
| 19 | 4 | 534939 | FISHER Erik | 1985 | USA | 2:02.67 | 15.24 |
| 20 | 40 | 561067 | PERKO Rok | 1985 | SLO | 2:02.83 | 16.98 |
| 21 | 43 | 150421 | ZAHROBSKY Petr | 1980 | CZE | 2:03.00 | 18.83 |
| 21 | 41 | 192932 | FAYED Guillermo | 1985 | FRA | 2:03.00 | 18.83 |
| 23 | 32 | 532490 | MACARTNEY Scott | 1978 | USA | 2:03.01 | 18.94 |
| 24 | 33 | 50833 | GRUGGER Hans | 1981 | AUT | 2:03.10 | 19.92 |
| 24 | 29 | 530939 | WEIBRECHT Andrew | 1986 | USA | 2:03.10 | 19.92 |
| 26 | 28 | 191964 | POISSON David | 1982 | FRA | 2:03.15 | 20.46 |
| 26 | 18 | 50753 | KROELL Klaus | 1980 | AUT | 2:03.15 | 20.46 |
| 28 | 42 | 291459 | PARIS Dominik | 1989 | ITA | 2:03.29 | 21.99 |
| 29 | 30 | 510747 | GRUENENFELDER Tobias | 1977 | SUI | 2:03.31 | 22.20 |
| 30 | 37 | 191591 | BERTRAND Yannick | 1980 | FRA | 2:03.32 | 22.31 |
| 31 | 47 | 51327 | PUCHNER Joachim | 1987 | AUT | 2:03.39 | 23.08 |
| 31 | 3 | 50695 | BUDER Andreas | 1979 | AUT | 2:03.39 | 23.08 |
| 33 | 36 | 292291 | THANEI Stefan | 1981 | ITA | 2:03.60 | 25.36 |
| 34 | 15 | 192746 | THEAUX Adrien | 1984 | FRA | 2:03.61 | 25.47 |
| 35 | 16 | 510727 | DEFAGO Didier | 1977 | SUI | 2:03.74 | 26.89 |
| 36 | 34 | 102271 | HUDEC Jan | 1981 | CAN | 2:03.80 | 27.54 |
| 37 | 45 | 511039 | KREUZER Ralf | 1983 | SUI | 2:03.82 | 27.76 |
| 38 | 35 | 201606 | KEPPLER Stephan | 1983 | GER | 2:03.89 | 28.52 |
| 39 | 2 | 290998 | STAUDACHER Patrick | 1980 | ITA | 2:03.96 | 29.28 |
| 40 | 44 | 511529 | GISIN Marc | 1988 | SUI | 2:04.05 | 30.26 |
| 41 | 39 | 510498 | ZUEGER Cornel | 1981 | SUI | 2:04.12 | 31.02 |
| 42 | 7 | 50451 | GRUBER Christoph | 1976 | AUT | 2:04.25 | 32.44 |
| 43 | 49 | 201900 | WAGNER Hannes | 1986 | GER | 2:04.43 | 34.40 |
| 44 | 55 | 40171 | BRANCH Craig | 1977 | AUS | 2:04.48 | 34.94 |
| 45 | 56 | 561085 | KRIZAJ Andrej | 1986 | SLO | 2:04.53 | 35.48 |
| 46 | 54 | 291034 | PLANK Andy | 1989 | ITA | 2:05.11 | 41.80 |
| 46 | 46 | 193212 | DURAND Jeremie | 1986 | FRA | 2:05.11 | 41.80 |
| 48 | 50 | 201987 | STRODL Andreas | 1987 | GER | 2:05.20 | 42.78 |
| 49 | 53 | 380292 | ZRNCIC-DIM Natko | 1986 | CRO | 2:05.30 | 43.87 |
| 49 | 48 | 533762 | TRANSUE Jeremy | 1983 | USA | 2:05.30 | 43.87 |
| 51 | 51 | 511383 | FEUZ Beat | 1987 | SUI | 2:05.45 | 45.50 |
| 52 | 14 | 293006 | INNERHOFER Christof | 1984 | ITA | 2:05.46 | 45.61 |
| 53 | 52 | 294277 | KLOTZ Siegmar | 1987 | ITA | 2:05.56 | 46.70 |
| 54 | 23 | 50858 | STREITBERGER Georg | 1981 | AUT | 2:05.81 | 49.42 |
| 55 | 58 | 220695 | CRAWFORD Douglas | 1987 | GBR | 2:05.92 | 50.61 |
| 56 | 57 | 193034 | BOUILLOT Alexandre | 1985 | FRA | 2:06.62 | 58.23 |
| 57 | 59 | 501230 | ERICSSON Daniel | 1987 | SWE | 2:07.39 | 66.61 |
| 58 | 60 | 421954 | LYSDAHL Espen | 1990 | NOR | 2:07.82 | 71.30 |
| 59 | 61 | 480997 | TARANENKO Mikhail | 1988 | RUS | 2:10.60 | 101.56 |
| 60 | 62 | 60159 | VAN BUYNDER Frederik | 1988 | BEL | 2:16.17 | 162.18 |
| Did not start 1st run | |||||||
| 21 | 292514 | HEEL Werner | 1982 | ITA | |||
| 13 | 560332 | JERMAN Andrej | 1978 | SLO | |||
About the Author: Hank McKee
