A NEW CANADIAN SPIRIT Del Bosco's gamble pays off in golden mentality
ICEMAN COMETH Janka nails down GS gold for Switzerland
CROSS-COUNTRY CANUCKS Canadians surge closer to top nations
OLYMPIC WEEKLY NO. 3 March 2, 2010
Ashleigh McIvor rules ski cross as Canada soars to gold-medal dominance
GRITTY GOLD CANADA’S JASEY-JAY ANDERSON RIDES TO PGS CROWN
MANCUSO VS. VONN RIVALRY HEATS UP
Volume 5, Number 6
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Jean-Philippe Roy
Passion* Great athletes have great passion: for the exhilaration of going faster and further, for the thrill of testing their own limits and for the satisfaction of taking their sport to new heights. We follow their highs and lows for the sheer joy of watching great men and women give it everything they’ve got. Good luck to all our athletes as they compete on the world stage. Proud to say we support Alpine Canada Alpin.
www.pwc.com/ca/alpine
*connectedthinking © 2010 PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. All rights reserved. “PricewaterhouseCoopers” refers to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an Ontario limited liability partnership, or, as the context requires, the PricewaterhouseCoopers global network or other member firms of the network, each of which is a separate and independent legal entity. 6047-0110 Jean-Philippe Roy photographed by ACA/Pentaphoto.
TABLE OF
CONTENTS SRC Olympic Weekly – March 2, 2010 – Vol. 5, No. 6 EDITOR’S NOTE By Gordie Bowles
Farewell world, farewell Games, thanks for the memories
6
LIFE BEYOND 2010 Will Canada continue to own the podium?
8
OLYMPIC SKI CROSS McGolden! Ashleigh McIvor rules Cypress, claims women’s ski cross
12
OLYMPIC ALPINE Rising star Rebensburg reels in GS gold for Germany
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A NEW CANADIAN SPIRIT Del Bosco’s ski cross gamble pays off in golden mentality
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OLYMPIC ALPINE Razzoli reaps gold in men’s slalom, Cousineau eighth
20
OLYMPIC ALPINE Iceman cometh: Janka nails down GS gold for Switzerland
22
OLYMPIC NORDIC Cross-country Canucks: strong Canadian XC team emerge as contenders
24
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SRC Olympic Commemorative Issue This collector’s issue coffee-table style magazine will tell the story of the Vancouver-Whistler 2010 Games through the eyes of the snowsports competitions and venues. With breathtaking images that capture the essence of Canada’s moment in the world spotlight, the SRC Commemorative Issue will give our readers a keepsake of a lifetime. CORRECTION: In the SRC Olympic Weekly #1 (Feb. 17, 2010) two photos were incorrectly credited. Page 10 (Didier Defago) and page 11 (Bode Miller) should both be credited to John Evely/SRC.
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My top 10 most memorable moments of the Vancouver-Whistler 2010 Winter Olympic Games: Bilodeau’s golden night. Alex the Great started the first week with a bang, becoming the first Canadian to win Olympic gold on home snow. Mäelle and Ashleigh’s home-snow victories. Cypress’ golden girls, Mäelle Ricker and Ashleigh McIvor, provided a convincing home-mountain defence to take Canada’s firstever gold medals in both “cross” events. Bode reborn. Bode Miller was magical at Whistler, making some of the best turns of his career and even sounding rejuvenated. Watch out for the new Bode. Cowboy build-up. Robbie Dixon and Manny O-P fizzled, but the energy they brought to the speed events was one of the most exciting lead-in moments of the Games. Welcome back Erik. Although he finished in the too-close-to-the-podium hot seat twice, Erik Guay raced like the Erik of old (well, two years ago), challenging the leaders in the downhill, super-G and even the giant slalom. Erik could start dominating again. Canadian hospitality and generosity. The Canadian crowds were beyond incredible. I, for one, am very proud of Canadians and how we hosted the world. Emergence of a new Canadian athletic spirit (see “New Canadian Spirit” on page 16). Incredible courses. Although some grumpy European media continually dissected and critiqued these Games to the extreme, they quite simply missed the boat. Every venue, every race that I attended (lots!) was impeccably run, and the racing courses were topnotch. Cross Country Canucks. The Canadian narrow plankers, especially the men’s team, exit the Olympics as legitimate game-day contenders. The future is exciting for this group. But a major thumbs-down to Canadian coach Inge Braten for pulling the rug out from Brian McKeever in the men’s 50 km. Lastly, the SRC Team. I must take this chance to send a big shout-out to the SRC Olympic Teamers, who busted their butts for three incredible weeks to bring our readers and viewers the inside scoop via our social, print and Web streaming platforms. In no particular order, thanks to: Dustin Titus, our social media guru, who logged about 19 hours/day in “the chair” (Dustin, the chair misses you). Paul Morrison, our lead photographer, who captured THE moments in the most creative and impacting way. John Evely, photographer extraordinaire, who bounced between Cypress, Whistler Olympic Park and Creekside and told the story through a beautiful canvas. Tom McCarthy, as an undercover SRC reporter (he was a Games volunteer ... sorry for blowing your cover, dude), gave us behind-the-scenes goodies on the cross-country scene. Don Cameron, the webmaster/editor/pull-it-all-together go-to guy who cranked out copy, edits and Web postings faster and more efficiently than ANYONE. Mark Tzerelshtein, our graphic designer, who toughed it out until the job was done (past 2 a.m. a few times!) ... and done right. Mark Kristofic, publisher of SRC, who is the first to admit he’s not sure what a publisher actually does, held the team together with his positive energy and pretty bad jokes. Finally, a mini shout-out to Miele (and president Jan Heck) for equipping the SRC Haus with a fantastic coffee machine and a much-needed caffeine boost at regular intervals.
Gordie Bowles, Editor-in-Chief
SKI
Gossip, news and entertainment from the snowsports world
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Want one of nine original Canadian Cowboy belt buckles? No problem, but you won’t find these bad boys on silent auction tables at your local fundraiser. All you need to do to get your hands on one is climb the podium steps at any race on the men’s World Cup tour. Designed by tattoo artist Mike Austin of Austin Tattoos in London, Ont., and fabricated by Sandi Sturgeon of Alberta Casting and Engraving, personally engraved buckles already have been awarded to Erik Guay, Johnny Kucera, Manny O-P, Jan Hudec, Frankie Bourque and Mike Janyk. “We’ve got three blank buckles still left to give out,” said men’s head coach Paul Kristofic. “I want at least one more out this year.”
MANCUSO-VONN RIVALRY HEATS UP
GERMAN FINDS GOOD PURPOSE FOR EUROS
An alleged feud between American Olympic medallists Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso escalated after Vonn’s crash in the giant slalom forced a Mancuso rerun, putting her in a difficult position to post a competitive time. Mancuso went on to post the second-fastest time on the second run, held the next day.
After getting stuck on a chairlift overnight in Austria, a German snowboarder used whatever resources he could find to stay warm ... including burning cash. Dominik Podolsky, from Munich, was stuck on a chairlift for six hours, dangling 10 metres above the ground, after he mistakenly downloaded a chairlift in the late afternoon hours. The ski operator said that the snowboarder ignored or missed signs that stated this particular chair lift wasn’t designed for downloading. Podolsky used his survival knowledge from his military service to keep himself warm, and he started to burn items to attract attention, like receipts and business cards. What finally worked for him was when he burned 120 euros, which caught the attention of the slope cleaning crews.
Alana Richter alana@bkmedia.ca
SRC is an independent publication of BK Media Inc. and is published eight times per year. Editorial Office: 5562 4th Ave. Delta, B.C., V4M 4H2. Subscriptions: For circulation inquiries or address updates, contact subscriptions@ srcmag.ca or visit www.srcmag.ca. Publication Mail Agreement: 41254013. Canada Post number 7229094. ISSN: 1913-9861, SRC (Print), ISSN 1913-987x (SRCmag.ca). “We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Magazine Fund toward our editorial costs.”
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In an interview during the Games with Sports Illustrated — ironically Vonn appeared on the front cover of the recent U.S. issue in a swimsuit — Mancuso said she was uncomfortable with Vonn’s influence on the U.S. team at the Games. “Our team is struggling, as a group,” Mancuso said. “People are having a hard time reaching their potential because it’s such a struggle for attention. You come to meetings after races and it’s like it’s a bad day if Lindsey didn’t do well.” Vonn responded: “It definitely has hurt me that she said some negative things about me, and all I can do is support her like I always have been and hope that she reciprocates that. “I am always proud an American is doing well and I was proud of her for being on the podium in downhill and super-combined and it bums me out.”
Erik Guay. Photo: Paul Morrison/SRC
BUCKLE UP! COWBOY BELT BUCKLE UP FOR GRABS
VANCOUVER 2010 MEDAL STANDINGS
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SRC 5
LIFE BEYOND 2010 Will Canada Continue to Own the Podium?
BY MARINA ELLIS
here’s no doubt Canada is hopped up on sport right now. Blue and green graphics, Olympic rings and Quatchi dolls still linger even though the closing ceremonies have signaled farewell to Vancouver. Canadians have just spent countless hours watching our athletes rake in medals on home soil, and many of them have developed a passionate connection with winter sport like never before. But what will happen to all of the hype now that the Olympic circus has left town? Will the sports we’ve cheered and the athletes we’ve idolized be able to carry on with the same support? Word on the street is they need to brace for change.
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Chris Del Bosco (centre) flanked by teammates Stanley Hayer (left) and Davey Barr (right) at a World Cup race at Cypress in 2009. Photo: Paul Morrison/SRC
Own the Podium (OTP), the program designed to ensure Canada achieves “sustainable podium performances at the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” will have its fate partially decided upon in the March 4 federal budget. Roger Jackson, OTP’s CEO and Director of Winter Sport, is quick to paint a realistic picture of their funding situation. “The current budget for winter sport is about 28 million dollars this year. Starting in March next year all we know that we have for sure is about 13 million,” he explained from his office in Calgary. “We are working on a request to the Government of Canada to provide replacement funding. And if they don’t, then we’re in deep trouble and we’ll have to make cuts.” So what if the Government of Canada can’t justify spending more money on sport when there are other fires to put out in sectors such as healthcare and education? Right now OTP funds 16 winter Olympic and Paralympic sports, but that number could drop to seven or eight if the funding doesn’t come through. Jackson knows exactly who would feel the pain if there were cut backs. “Downsizing would cause us to lose the Top Secret program, a lot of the sport science and sport medicine support, and 150 national team coaches. Plus the Canadian Sport Centres would see a huge reduction while half of the sports that we currently fund would get nothing, which would be incredibly disappointing.” Peter Judge, CEO of the Canadian Freestyle Skiing Association, has made sure there is a plan B for his team. “NSOs (National Sport Organizations) are going to have to get creative to stay afloat. We will need to find alternate funding or consolidate. For example, snowboard halfpipe could team up with freestyle aerials, while snowboardcross could work alongside ski cross. I could even foresee similar partnerships between summer and winter sports. I just hope we don’t lose the thought process, passion and philosophy that drove us to become number one last season.” Passion looks to be more of a problem for the corporations involved with NSOs than it does for the teams themselves. Jackson explained their situation with sponsors bluntly: “They [the sports] don’t have any money. The problem they are facing has to do with corporate support. A lot of companies are pulling back because of the recession and only got involved with individual sports because the Games were coming and they wanted to support them. So where as OTP funding could shrink, so could the corporate funding for sports. They may get hit doubly.”
“DOWNSIZING WOULD CAUSE US TO LOSE THE TOP SECRET PROGRAM, A LOT OF THE SPORT SCIENCE AND SPORT MEDICINE SUPPORT, AND 150 NATIONAL TEAM COACHES.” Recent hints from Ottawa do not look good as Gary Lunn, Minister of Sport, says the gap in funding should be filled by Canadian companies and philanthropists rather than the government. Jackson argues the lack of support would be a shock to the nation given the time frame. “It would really be politically interesting for the Government after the success of the Games and prior to a spring election — in all likelihood — to say that this has been an extraordinarily successful undertaking — which it has been,” Jackson explains. “So it would be very easy for them to support this. The Government of Canada, by the way, has been the biggest supporter, along with the Vancouver Organizing Committee. So we are just hoping they will be able to let us continue developing the program further.” With the budget announcement and Olympic fever striking at the same time, OTP has reason to be cautiously optimistic. Their track record should also help their case considering Canada had a banner season last year, winning the most World Championships of any country. With so many doors open right now for people to pursue sport in this country, you’d have to think the federal government wouldn’t close any while the world is watching.
NO SAFETY NET FOR FACILITIES EITHER After the Games had ended in past Canadian host cities, training facilities continued to provide a legacy for sport — especially in Calgary. But now that the lights have dimmed in Vancouver and Whistler, Roger Jackson points out that the nation will be in new territory after its third Games. “The endowment funds we had set aside have lost a huge amount of its potential value because of the recession,” Jackson explains. “Next year, if we don’t get funding for OTP, we will have serious trouble keeping some of these facilities open. So the sports not only will receive less money themselves, the facilities will not be able to be operated as they are now. They’ll be operated possible with very restricted timing and so on.” Now it’s up to the legacy operations VANOC has put in place to ensure the buildings don’t become relics. With amazing opportunities for the public such as bobsleigh and skeleton rides or picturesque cross-country skiing, it’s hard to believe the venues will sit empty. But if the sport system continues to be funded, you can expect the public to have the opportunity to reap the true benefits of the Games. SRC www.srcmag.ca
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SKI CROSS WARRIOR Whistler, B.C.’s Julia Murray had strong early heats but a bad knee and stiff competition forced her out of the women’s ski cross quarterfinals in the sport's Olympic debut. Photo: John Evely/SRC
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OLYMPIC
SKI CROSS
Kelsey Serwa was in contention for the final round until she was passed in the lower section of the course in the semifinals of women's skicross at Cypress. Photo: John Evely/SRC Ashleigh McIvor reacts after claiming the first-ever gold medal in women’s ski cross at Cypress. Photo: John Evely/SRC
ASHLEIGH McGOLDEN! CANADA’S MCIVOR RULES CYPRESS, CLAIMS FIRST-EVER OLYMPIC WOMEN’S SKI CROSS WEST VANCOUVER, B.C. — Ashleigh McIvor didn’t let the blowing snow slow her down or the tumbling skiers trip her up. It was the perfect formula for ski cross and good enough to put another gold medal in Canada’s column at the Vancouver Olympics. Persevering through a typical day of spills and thrills in ski cross, made more hectic by a heavy snowstorm that hit halfway through the event, McIvor found all the right routes down the course Tuesday to help Canada take its sixth gold medal of the Games. “I’m so thrilled, this is best moment of my entire life,” said a beaming McIvor in the finish area. “I’ve worked so hard for this and it’s so awesome to be able to represent my hometown, my home province, my home country on the world stage.” Hedda Berntsen of Norway came in a distant second, and Marion Josserand of France took the bronze. Canadian Kelsey Serwa won the consolation final to take fifth, with Julia Murray 12th and Danielle Poleschuk 19th.
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McIvor, who grew up in Whistler and used to ski down the stairs into her parents’ living room, had a huge group of friends and family in the crowd, one of whom held up a sign that said “Ashleigh’s Gold.” “I felt really comfortable, I looked forward to each run,” McIvor said. “I was having a lot of fun. This course is so awesome and such a good feeling running it.” A winter storm came in just as the qualifying started, but that couldn’t knock McIvor off her medal quest. “The weather was even more comforting for me, I felt like I was at the top of Blackcomb Mountain ready to drop in on CBC (a run on Blackcomb),” she said. “It was an amazing feeling. I felt like it was my race and my course. I felt very connected to it.” The gold helped ease some of the pain from two days previous when her boyfriend, Chris Del Bosco, let a Canadian medal slip away while trying to
jockey from third to second on the second-to-last jump on the same course. “I always draw inspiration from him,” McIvor said. “I actually thought about him when I went through that corner, ‘Don’t do what Chris did, stay on your feet.’ ” She also drew inspiration from Canadian snowboardcross gold medallist Mäelle Ricker. “When the nerves kicked up I was like ‘OK, this is good, this is what your body is supposed to do.’ I felt like it (nerves) would pull me out and explode out of the start. I actually thought of Mäelle — she said that she focused on exploding out of the start ... so thank you, Mäelle,” McIvor said with a laugh. “Mäelle was a real inspiration for me, a local girl like me. This event was made for us and I was almost thinking I was made for this event. I kept telling myself I was made for this.” McIvor never found herself in major trouble in her four races, though plenty of others did on a typically wild day for the newest sport at the Olympics. “Ski cross is the newest form of ski racing, but in its essence, it’s been around forever,” she said. “It’s racing your friends from the top of the mountain to the bottom. The IOC is really interested in keeping up with the next generation, and keeping the Olympics cool, and ski cross is a great way to do that.” SRC — SRC’s Gordie Bowles and The Canadian Press contributed to this report
OLYMPIC
ALPINE Women’s GS
RISING STAR REBENSBURG REELS IN GS GOLD FOR GERMANY WHISTLER, B.C. — Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg won the gold medal Thursday in the women’s giant slalom, stealing the thunder from the Austrians, who looked poised to claim gold after Wednesday’s weather-plagued opening run. Rebensburg, who had never won a major race, clocked a two-run combined time of 2 minutes,
Slovenian Tina Maze claimed her second silver medal of the Games, this time in the women’s giant slalom. Photo: Paul Morrison/SRC
Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg stunned the crowd when she won the gold medal in the women’s giant slalom. Photo: Paul Morrison/SRC
27.11 seconds down Franz’s GS, .04 better than silver medallist Tina Maze of Slovenia and .14 ahead of bronze medallist Elisabeth Goergl of Austria. Maze also won silver in the super-G, while Goergl matched her bronze from the downhill but couldn’t hold her first-run lead. Rebensburg stood atop the Olympic podium less than a year after she swept gold medals in super-G and giant slalom at the World Junior Championships. “I just won a gold medal at an Olympic event,” said the 20-year-old German, who had never won a senior-level race before. “It’s the highest thing I could ever achieve. Crazy!” The prerace clamor within the German team centered on Maria Riesch, who won gold in
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super-combined, and Kathrin Hoelzl, who won the giant slalom at last season’s World Championships in Val d’Isere, France. “(Riesch) is No. 1 in our team,” Rebensburg said. “It’s good for us who are a little bit younger. The pressure is not so high.” Rebensburg’s best previous senior result was second in the last World Cup GS before the Vancouver Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Before that, she had never finished on the podium, but she had been threatening to break out for several seasons. She finished eighth in giant slalom at the 2007 senior worlds in Are, Sweden, when she was just 17, and was ninth at last year’s worlds in Val d’Isere when Hoelzl won. Riesch was seventh after the opening leg, but
was only 20th fastest in her second run. “She should experience this moment right now in the moment, because it all goes by like a film and tonight she will shake her head and wonder what happened,” Riesch said. Defending champion Julia Mancuso of Squaw Valley, Calif., who was 18th after the first run, had the third-fastest time of the second leg and finished eighth. American teammate Lindsey Vonn crashed out in the first leg and broke her right pinkie. The first run was completed Wednesday, but dense fog forced organizers to postpone the second leg for a day. Goergl’s medal haul now matches that of her mother, Traudl Hecher, who also won two bronze medals at the Olympics — in downhill at the 1960 Squaw Valley Games and the 1964 Innsbruck Games. Marie Michele-Gagnon topped the Canadian entries, placing 21st, 1.78 behind the winner. Britt Janyk was 25th, Shona Rubens 28th and Marie-Pier Prefontaine 29th. “I think it is positive. It was a good run but I wasn’t all that happy to not be in first after I came down,” said Gagnon. SRC — The Canadian Press contributed to this report
OLYMPIC
ALPINE
GOLDEN SKIER Carlo Janka of Switzerland added Olympic gold to his impressive collection, finishing just ahead of Norwegians Kjetil Jansrud and Aksel Lund Svindal in the men’s giant slalom. Photo: Paul Morrison/SRC
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A NEW
CANADIAN SPIRIT
DEL BOSCO’S SKI CROSS GAMBLE PAYS OFF IN GOLDEN MENTALITY
BY GORDIE BOWLES PHOTOS: PAUL MORRISON wn the Podium fell flat on its face. Or did it? The $30 million program that came into existence to create Olympic champions out of fourthplace finishers failed to live up to its name, said critics, with Team Canada making 26 trips to the podium and finishing third in the total medals standings. But an interesting development occurred behind the scenes at the Olympic Winter Games that could yield a more fruitful and lasting result for the Great White North. A new Canadian emerged at VancouverWhistler — not a tangible or overtly visual character change, but a psychological shift and emotional divergence that could make our country all the more better. Allow me to explain. Ski cross racer Chris Del Bosco, wearing an agony-of-defeat expression across his face after the ski cross finals, in which he crashed out on the final jump after gambling a bronze medal for the teeny-tiny opportunity for gold, is the poster child for this new Canadian. The Canuck of yesterday was content with a bronze medal — heck, top 10 is just fine, thank you very much. Remember the national celebration after Karen Percy’s double bronze-medal performance in the women’s downhill and super-G at the 1988 Calgary Games? It reached epic proportions. But on the day Del Bosco gave up a bronze by going all out for gold, he showed us a new Canadian. Sporting a big scrape across the bridge of his nose and a raspberry under his right eye, wearing a Canada sweatshirt and toque, he struggled to answer questions without breaking down. “I wasn’t content with just ... [long pause] third. I guess it’s all right for some people, but I wanted to give 100 percent for my sport and for my country. I thought I could make up a little bit more at the bottom, but I couldn’t.”
O
Erik Guay had a strong showing during the Games, finishing among the leaders and just off the podium twice, but was interested only in Olympic hardware which eluded the Canadian alpine team. Canadian ski cross racer Chris Del Bosco struggles to answer questions without breaking down at a postrace press conference following men’s ski cross finals at Cypress Mountain.
Ivan Babikov led a group of three Canadians in the top 10 — a best-ever Olympic performance — in the men’s 30-kilometre pursuit at Whistler Olympic Park. But Babikov — a Russian-turnedCanadian who now lives in Canmore, lamented his fifth-place finish, saying it was “close but too far.” And Canada’s top Olympic alpine performer, Erik Guay, was equally unimpressed with his fifthplace finish in the men’s super-G, only four years after a fist-pumping celebration for his fourthplace finish in Torino in the same event. “I’m tired with it,” Guay said of his brushes with the podium. “There’s something there that needs to change, needs to be unblocked, to let it go and get those victories and podiums. I’m over it. I don’t want fourths and fifths anymore. “Today’s harder than most — to be three-hundredths from third place and six-hundredths from second is tough to swallow. And to make that
mistake up top cost me three-tenths, so it was there today and within my grasp.” By now you likely know the story of Del Bosco, a recovered addict who grew up in Colorado, now competes for Canada, and has emerged as a face of a champion, even though he finished fourth. It was just over five years ago that he was near death in the freezing water of a Vail creek bed, beaten and left with a broken neck. And here he was, with a storybook ending right there in from of him, just a gamble or two away ... so he went for it. Sorry, bronze and silver just weren’t going to cut it. After his spectacular crash — he fell into a heap and stayed there for several minutes — Del Bosco likely felt that he let down his adopted country and a sport that picked him up off the floor after nearly a decade of battling addiction. But he emerged as the face of a new Canadian spirit. Now down but hardly out, Del Bosco’s go-forbroke mentality and die-hard quest for the top step of the podium at Cypress has kick-started a new culture for Canadian athletes that will last well beyond the 2010 Games and could breed the new Canuck spirit, a spirit that accepts nothing but gold. SRC www.srcmag.ca
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OLYMPIC
ALPINE
Julien Cousineau
Giuliano Razzoli
after being runner-up to Bode Miller in the supercombined. Andre Myhrer of Sweden got bronze, 0.44 behind, for the first alpine medal for Sweden’s men in 22 years. Canadian Julien Cousineau turned in the second-fastest second run and finished eighth. Michael Janyk was 13th and Trevor White 31st. Razzoli raised both arms in triumph on crossing the finish line. “I’ve been feeling this medal for a long time, working a lot, training a lot, for this day,” he said. “Now I’m here with a gold medal.”
RAZZOLI REAPS GOLD IN MEN’S SLALOM, COUSINEAU 8TH Photos by Paul Morrison/SRC WHISTLER, B.C. — Giuliano Razzoli won the Olympic slalom and gave Italy its first alpine gold medal of the Vancouver Games. Razzoli was the first-leg leader and had a combined two-run time of 1 minute, 39.32 seconds to become the first Italian man to win an alpine medal since his mentor, the flamboyant Alberto Tomba, took slalom silver at Lillehammer in 1994. Tomba won the slalom at Calgary in 1988, and was the last Italian man to win a gold, in the giant slalom at Albertville in 1992. Tomba watched near the finish area and jumped up and down with both arms raised in triumph when his 25-year-old protege crossed the line. “Now I can understand how it is for the parents,” Tomba said, after Razzoli came over to embrace him. “It’s more emotional. I think it’s better to be racing.” Razzoli said he knew how long Italy had waited for another gold medal. “It’s incredible,” Razzoli said. “It’s a long time. I’m happy for my country.” Ivica Kostelic of Croatia was 0.16 behind Razzoli for his second silver medal of these Olympics,
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He showed his form last month winning his first World Cup race in Zagreb, Croatia — and was then hoisted onto Tomba’s shoulders in celebration. Kostelic was fourth-fastest in the morning but moved up to claim his third career Olympic silver. He also was runner-up behind Ted Ligety of the United States in traditional combined at the 2006 Games. Austrian Benjamin Raich fell just short of claiming his fifth career Olympic medal, which would have made him the most decorated Austrian alpine skier in games history. He is tied at four with Hermann Maier and Stephan Eberharter, both now retired. Canada’s Cousineau put down the secondfastest second-run time, to jump from 19th to eighth place, trailing Razzoli by 1.34. SRC — The Canadian Press contributed to this report
CANADA’S ANDERSON RIDES TO GOLD IN SNOWBOARD PGS WEST VANCOUVER, B.C. — Canada’s JaseyJay Anderson punctuated his tremendous career with a gold medal Saturday in the men’s parallel giant slalom at Cypress. Anderson overcame a big first-run deficit to defeat Austria’s Benjamin Karl in a head-to-head duel in the finals. Mathieu Bozzetto of France secured bronze. “I love being in that situation where I have to rise above the challenge, try to dig as deep as I can and see what’s there,” Anderson said. Anderson began the second of the tworace final with a .76-second deficit, but he kept carving away at the lead and crossed .35 seconds ahead of the world’s topranked rider. In his fourth Olympics, the 34-year-old Anderson got the medal to fill out an otherwise amazing résumé that includes seven World Cup titles and four world championships. He had never placed better than 20th in an Olympic PGS. Anderson is expected to retire, but after the race, he said, “Honestly, I don’t even know, I wasn’t even thinking about that. All I wanted to do was nice turns and do the best I could. I just worked, worked, worked to be the best I could be physically, with my equipment. The support has been amazing from every angle. It’s amazing the amount of energy that I sucked out of people around me and it’s nice to give something back, a little bit of pride and a lot of joy.” Emerging stars Matthew Lambert and Matt Morison were expected to compete for medals for Canada. But Morison fractured an elbow in December and missed the final five pre-Olympic World Cup events. Morison finished 11th and Lambert 12th. “It was tough racing today but it’s the same for everyone,” said a dejected Morison. “I was feeling really confident and I was riding fast. Then made an error there and now I will have to live that down for the rest of my life.” — SRC’s Gordie Bowles and The Canadian Press contributed to this report
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OLYMPIC
ALPINE Norwegian superstar Aksel Lund Svindal shows his Olympic form en route to finishing third in the men’s giant slalom. Photo: Paul Morrison/SRC
ICEMAN COMETH JANKA NAILS DOWN GS GOLD FOR SWITZERLAND WHISTLER, B.C. — Carlo Janka of Switzerland added the Olympic gold medal to his world championship in giant slalom, while Bode Miller failed to finish in his bid for a record fourth men’s alpine medal. The 23-year-old Janka led after the first run and had a combined two-leg time of 2 minutes, 37.83 seconds. Norway took the silver and bronze medals. Kjetil Jansrud jumped from 11th after the first run to take silver, .39 seconds back, and Aksel Lund Svindal was .61 back for bronze, matching Miller’s three-medal tally at the Vancouver Games. Svindal won the superG and was second in downhill. “It was something special today,” Janka said. “I was a little bit nervous between the runs. I had a great second run without mistakes.”
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Canada’s Erik Guay had a scintillating second run on a fresh course — he started second in the afternoon run — and held the lead for much of the early going of the second run, finishing 16th. Robbie Dixon was 24th, Patrick Biggs 35th and Brad Spence 42nd.
Carlo Janka (centre) of Switzerland celebrates his Olympic giant slalom title. Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud (left) and Aksel Lund Svindal finished second and third, respectively. Photo: Paul Morrison/SRC
OLYMPIC
ALPINE
Photo credit: Paul Morrison/SRC
Guay, whose best result in a giant slalom event was a 14th place two years ago in Bormio, Italy, said he wasn’t expecting much from Tuesday and is pretty satisfied with what he did. “Realistically, I knew I wasn’t going to be in the top five today,” Guay said. “My game plan all along was to make top 30 in the first run in order to have an early start in the second one and then to be able to take some chance, and that is what I was able to do, so I’m pretty happy about that. “We are definitely not happy with our results, because finishing fifth is not where you want to be. You want to be on the podium, but this a sport were we play with hundredth of seconds and people that know about skiing, know that we were in the game.”
BODE’S RISK TAKING IN ‘FLAT LIGHT’ BACKFIRES
Canadian Erik Guay racing in the second run of the men's giant slalom, finishing second in the run. Photo: Paul Morrison/SRC
Miller almost crashed in the top half of the course on the first run and then couldn’t correct his line coming out of a right-hand gate in the second half. The 32-year-old Miller, from Franconia, N.H., won gold in the super-combined, silver in super-G and bronze in downhill and was trying to become the first alpine skier to win four medals in the same Olympics. Austria’s “Wunderteam” was shut out of the men’s medals for the fourth straight race at these Games, settling for the 4-5-6 finishers in Marcel Hirscher, Romed Baumann and Benjamin Raich. Neighbour and big rival Switzerland now has two alpine golds; Didier Defago won the downhill a week earlier. “We have not very many medals, but we have a lot in gold,” Janka said. Janka is known as the Iceman at home for his cool emotions, and his celebration was typically understated. He shook his ski poles low to the ground and then raised his arms above his head, allowing himself a smile of satisfaction. Two days earlier, Janka had walked away angrily from the super-combined event after finishing fourth. He arrived at the Olympics second in the World Cup overall standings and was projected by many as a breakout star. But Janka was a disappointing 11th in the Olympic downhill and eighth in super-G — just .18 seconds behind bronze medallist Andrew Weibrecht of the U.S. — before missing a supercombi medal by .22 in the race won by Miller. SRC
Bode Miller makes no apologies for his high-risk, high-reward style. It’s what earned him three medals in the first three races at the Vancouver Olympics and what caused him to ski out in the giant slalom on Tuesday. “I’m taking more risk than everyone else. That’s partly why I’m able to get medals. It looks easy when you make it,” Miller said after missing out on becoming the first man to win four alpine medals at one Winter Games. He’s constantly on the accelerator going down the mountain, taking chances few others would, and that gambler’s mentality has paid off richly for him in Whistler. Until Tuesday, of course, when his attacking nature cost him. The other side of Miller surfaced, the one that was on display in Torino four years ago. Miller chalked up his failure to complete the first run of the giant slalom to his aggressiveness. Losing time on the upper section of the course, where he narrowly avoided a crash, he tried to make it up by going faster on the bottom. Miller also told The Associated Press that he had trouble picking up the bumps on the course because of the overcast conditions. “This light — I knew I had an issue this morning. I’m not one of the better skiers in flat light. I tend to move a lot more,” Miller said. “Some of those guys are so squared up and solid, the bad light doesn’t affect them that bad. ... I hit any of those little bumps while I’m moving, if I can’t see them, I blow out.” Vancouver has been a completely different experience for Miller than Torino, when he left empty-handed. His charging style has been wellsuited for this mountain. “When I look back on my career, it’s hard to believe the (stuff) I’ve been able to pull off,” Miller said of his aggressive approach. “I take everything with a grain of salt. There are a million variables. But I also take some credit for it. I do go that way, all the time. I am willing to deal with the consequences, when a lot of guys aren’t willing to deal with those consequences. So they don’t take the risk.” — The Canadian Press
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OLYMPIC
CROSS-COUNTRY
Superstar-in-the-making Alex Harvey of Canada stretches for the finish line in the men's team sprint. Photo: John Evely/SRC Canadian Devon Kershaw takes the early lead in the men's team sprint. Photo: John Evely/SRC Canadians Alex Harvey (left) and Devon Kershaw. Photo: John Evely/SRC
CROSS-COUNTRY CANUCKS EMERGE AS CONTENDERS BABIKOV, GREY, HARVEY AND KERSHAW SURGE CLOSER TO TOP NATIONS WHISTLER, B.C. — The Canadian team launched a brilliant attack on the world’s best cross-country skiers on the biggest stage in the men’s pursuit, signaling a positive future for the young Canucks. Ivan Babikov of Canmore, Alberta, led the Canadian attack, which resulted in the home country’s best-ever team result in an Olympic competition. Four Canadians finished in the top 16, with three in the top 10. George Grey, who finished 25th in this event in Torino, finished eighth Saturday, and Alex Harvey, whose father, Pierre, was the first Canadian to win a World Cup race, finished ninth. Devon Kershaw crossed the line in 16th. “What we did is probably going to stay in the history book for some time — three in the top 10,” Grey said. Sweden’s Marcus Hellner overtook countryman Johan Olsson — who led the race from early on — in the final kilometre and claimed the gold medal down the finish stretch in a time of 1 hour, 15 min-
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utes, 11.4 seconds. Olsson hung on for the bronze, while Germany’s Tobias Angerer won the silver. “As a team it was an amazing result,” Harvey told SRC Magazine shortly after the finish. “The program was working well for us today, the wax team did really well, the rest of the team was cheering on the side for us, coaches giving us feeds, time splits ... everything went perfectly, so it’s amazing.” — By Gordie Bowles
SWEDES WIN XC MEN’S RELAY, CANADIANS BEST-EVER 7TH WHISTLER, B.C. — Sweden won the men’s cross-country skiing relay after Marcus Hellner pulled away on the last leg for his second gold medal of the Olympics. Canada finished seventh. The Swedish team of Daniel Richardsson, Johan Olsson, Anders Soedergren and Hellner finished the 4x10-kilometre race in 1 hour, 45 minutes, 5.4 seconds for its first relay gold since 1988. Petter Northug used a furious final leg to secure silver for Norway. The Czechs took the bronze, 16.5 seconds back, and the French ended up fourth. The Canadian foursome of Devon Kershaw, Alex Harvey, Ivan Babikov and George Grey had medal hopes, but settled for seventh with a time of 1:47:03.2. Seventh is the best Canadian Olympic finish ever in the event. The 1988 Calgary team finished ninth, with Pierre Harvey, Alex’s father, a member of that unit. “We are continuing to close the gap,” Kershaw said. “We were 11th in Torino and now seventh. It is tough now because we are so close to the podium, but we have to be very proud of this result. It is our sixth top-10 at the Games.” — The Canadian Press and Cross Country Canada contributed to this sidebar
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