Garmisch: Guay tops DH for first World Cup win

By Published On: February 24th, 2007Comments Off on Garmisch: Guay tops DH for first World Cup win

Erik Guay of Canada won Saturday's downhill for his first World Cup victory.
    Guay clocked 1 minute, 56.80 seconds on the 3,455-meter Kandahar course to beat Friday's winner, Andrej Jerman of Slovenia, by half a second and become Canada's first World Cup downhill winner since Cary Mullen in 1994.
    ''I am really excited. This is super stuff,'' Guay said. ''There will be a huge party tonight. It's taken a while, but it's an awesome feeling. It hasn't sunk in yet.''   
    Didier Cuche of Switzerland finished third in 1:57.33 to stretch his lead in downhill standings.
    Scott Macartney led the U.S. Ski Team, tying for 23rd place. Bode Miller didn't start the race because of a neck injury.
    Guay had placed third in Friday's downhill and picked up his first victory with a blazing run on a course that had frozen overnight. The race was held in bright sunshine and spring-like temperatures.


GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany — Erik Guay of Canada won Saturday's downhill for his first World Cup victory.
    Guay clocked 1 minute, 56.80 seconds on the 3,455-meter Kandahar course to beat Friday's winner, Andrej Jerman of Slovenia, by half a second and give Canadian men their first downhill victory in 14 years.
    ''I am really excited. This is super stuff,'' Guay said. ''There will be a huge party tonight. It's taken a while, but it's an awesome feeling. It hasn't sunk in yet.''  
    Didier Cuche of Switzerland finished third in 1:57.33 to stretch his lead in downhill standings.
    Guay had placed third in Friday's downhill and picked up his first victory with a blazing run on a course that had frozen overnight. The race was held in bright sunshine and spring-like temperatures.
    The Canadian racer had won a combined downhill in 2005 in Val d'Isere in France, but this was his first win in a proper downhill and it came on one of the most demanding courses on the circuit.
    Guay topped 120 kph (75 mph) in the steeper upper part of the slope and stayed on a good line all the way.
    ''It played out at the bottom, I had a good line and brought a lot of speed into it,'' he said. ''I took as many risks as possible.''
    He led a fine Canadian showing, with three racers in the top 10. Jan Hudec was fifth and Manuel Osborne-Paradis seventh. The last Canadian man to win a downhill was Cary Mullen in Aspen in 1994.
    ''Hopefully, we'll get a few more soon,'' Guay said.
    In Friday's race, most late starters were at a disadvantage because of a rapidly deteriorating course. But the starting order did not appear to be a factor Saturday. Neither of the top three finishers had started among the first 20.
    Guay, 25, has been steadily improving on the circuit and finished fourth in the World Championship downhill in Are, Sweden, earlier this month.
    In the last race before the championship, he finished second in a downhill in Val d'Isere and then came third place Friday.
    ''It's been a while in the works. I came close several times this year, I came close yesterday and finally I put it all together,'' Guay said. ''I feel my skiing has been getting better and better all winter.''
    Jerman had another fine run a day after becoming the first Slovenian to win a downhill.
    ''It was important today to show that it wasn't a one-day wonder,'' Jerman said. ''First and second, it's more than I ever expected."
    Overall World Cup leader Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, who won the world downhill title in Sweden, finished 19th on Saturday to stay in front with 807 points, while Cuche moved up to second overall at 748.
    Cuche leads the downhill standings with 507 points, ahead of Marc Buechel of Liechtenstein at 379. Buchel was eighth Saturday.
    ''If I win the title without winning a race, I'll be happy, but it would be good to win a race,'' Cuche said.
    Like Friday, none of the medalists from the world championship finished on the podium.
    Scott Macartney led the U.S. Ski Team, tying for in 23nd place. Steven Nyman was 27th, Marco Sullivan 37th and Erik Fisher 40th. JJ Johnson DNFed. Bode Miller didn't start the race because of a neck injury.
    Hermann Maier, the Austrian star who won his first World Cup race in Garmisch 10 years ago, completed a disastrous two days of racing in 25th place, a slight improvement over his 29th-place finish Friday.
    A slalom is scheduled Sunday in this southern German resort.

— The Associated Press


THE SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men's DH, Garmisch, Germany, Feb. 24, 2007

Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Guay, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Jerman, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic
3 Cuche, Head/Head/Tyrolia
4 Gruber, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
5 Hudec, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
6 Gruenenfelder, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic
7 Osborne-Paradis, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
8 Buechel, Head/Lange/Tyrolia
9 Scheiber, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
10 Bertrand, Dynastar/Lange/Look

Men's downhill, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Feb. 24, 2007. … It is the 26th race of the men's 38-race World Cup schedule. … It is the ninth of 11 scheduled downhills on the men's schedule and the mid race of a three race set at Garmisch. … It is the 33rd Cup DH held at Garmisch.
    It is the first career World Cup win for Erik Guay. … His seventh career podium and second in two days. … He becomes the 20th Canadian to win a World Cup race. … It is the second Canadian win of the season, the previous coming from John Kucera in SG at Lake Louise Nov. 26. … Two different Canadians had not won in the same season since 1994 (Edi Podivinsky and Cary Mullen). … Mullen's win was the last in DH for a Canadian (Aspen March 5, 1994. … Guay's last five results are second (Val d'Isere), sixth (Worlds SG), 4th (Worlds DH), third (Garmisch1) and first. … Steve Podborski is the only other Canadian to win Garmisch (three times).
    It is the second career podium for Andrej Jerman and second in two days having won the first of two back-to-back races at Garmisch. … Both placings are all time best for Slovenia in downhill.
    It is the 28th career podium for Didier Cuche. … The 12th in DH. … He had never finished third in a DH previously. … It is his sixth podium of the season and fifth in DH. … He has not yet won a DH this season. … He has placed in the top 10 in 17 of 19 races completed this season (including World Championships).
    It is a career best World Cup placing for Jan Hudec. … His previous best had been eighth at Lake Louise 11/27/2004. … He did win silver in the World Champi
onship DH. … It is the second time this season Canadian men had two in the top five of a World Cup. … (Guay and Osborne-Paradis at Val d'Isere Jan. 20) … It is the fourth best career result for Manuel Osborne-Paradis all of them this season. … Canadian men had not put three skiers in the top 10 of a race since March 11, 1988 at Beaver Creek (DH 6. Rob Boyd, 7 Rob Bosinger, 8 Dan Moar, 10 Don Stevens). … An improbable result with two Canadians not starting the race (John Kucera and Francois Bourque). … For Scott Macartney the placing of 23rd matches his 12th best of all time. … It is his fourth best at Garmisch. … His best career result came at Garmisch (2nd SG Jan. 29, 2006).
 … It is the 22nd scoring result of Steven Nyman's career. … His third best at Garmisch in three races.
    Cuche extends his lead in the World Cup downhill standings to 507-379 over Marco Buechel (8th in race) with two races remaining. … Andrej Jerman is third in the DH standings at 339. … Erik Guay is the top North American on the list in fifth at 313. … Bode Miller (did not start) leads U.S. skiers in seventh at 273. … Aksel Lund Svindal (19th in race) maintains the lead in the overall standings 807-748 over Cuche with Benjamin Raich (did not race) in third at 705 and Miller fourth at 643. … Winning margin is .50 of a second. … Top 10 are within a second. … Top 24 within two seconds.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen men's World Cup downhill results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time FIS Points
 1  25  102263 GUAY Erik  1981  CAN   1:56.80  0.00
 2  21  560332 JERMAN Andrej  1978  SLO   1:57.30  5.78
 3  30  510030 CUCHE Didier  1974  SUI   1:57.33  6.13
 4  14  50451 GRUBER Christoph  1976  AUT   1:57.37  6.59
 5  5  102271 HUDEC Jan  1981  CAN   1:57.42  7.17
 6  2  510747 GRUENENFELDER Tobias  1977  SUI   1:57.60  9.25
 7  20  102899 OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel  1984  CAN   1:57.66  9.94
 8  29  350032 BUECHEL Marco  1971  LIE   1:57.68  10.17
 9  23  51005 SCHEIBER Mario  1983  AUT   1:57.73  10.75
 10  7  191591 BERTRAND Yannick  1980  FRA   1:57.76  11.10
 11  31  510890 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan  1981  SUI   1:57.98  13.64
 12  17  510767 HOFFMANN Ambrosi  1977  SUI   1:58.06  14.56
 13  15  510727 DEFAGO Didier  1977  SUI   1:58.10  15.03
 14  10  290998 STAUDACHER Patrick  1980  ITA   1:58.14  15.49
 15  9  291641 SULZENBACHER Kurt  1976  ITA   1:58.15  15.60
 16  27  292455 FILL Peter  1982  ITA   1:58.36  18.03
 17  24  50182 STROBL Fritz  1972  AUT   1:58.40  18.49
 18  16  191116 DALCIN Pierre-Emmanuel  1977  FRA   1:58.49  19.53
 19  26  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   1:58.57  20.46
 20  49  201439 STEHLE Johannes  1981  GER   1:58.59  20.69
 21  22  510478 KERNEN Bruno  1972  SUI   1:58.67  21.61
 22  4  191415 BOTTOLLIER-LASQUIN Marc  1979  FRA   1:58.69  21.85
 23  13  50833 GRUGGER Hans  1981  AUT   1:58.70  21.96
 23  3  532490 MACARTNEY Scott  1978  USA   1:58.70  21.96
 25  18  50423 MAIER Hermann  1972  AUT   1:58.81  23.23
 26  11  50695 BUDER Andreas  1979  AUT   1:58.83  23.46
 27  41  292514 HEEL Werner  1982  ITA   1:58.90  24.27
 27  19  533866 NYMAN Steven  1982  USA   1:58.90  24.27
 29  12  50753 KROELL Klaus  1980  AUT   1:58.97  25.08
 30  44  510165 HOFER Beni  1978  SUI   1:59.01  25.54
 31  33  192746 THEAUX Adrien  1984  FRA   1:59.16  27.28
 32  46  191964 POISSON David  1982  FRA   1:59.24  28.20
 33  34  291399 GIRARDI Walter  1976  ITA   1:59.31  29.01
 34  1  201606 KEPPLER Stephan  1983  GER   1:59.43  30.40
 35  40  291116 FATTORI Alessandro  1973  ITA   1:59.49  31.09
 36  54  50742 REICHELT Hannes  1980  AUT   1:59.60  32.36
 37  8  533131 SULLIVAN Marco  1980  USA   1:59.63  32.71
 38  48  501076 OLSSON Hans  1984  SWE   1:59.74  33.98
 39  36  50858 STREITBERGER Georg  1981  AUT   1:59.86  35.37
 40  42  534939 FISHER Erik  1985  USA   1:59.98  36.76
 41  47  293141 VARETTONI Silvano  1984  ITA   2:00.06  37.68
 42  43  510207 HARI Konrad  1978  SUI   2:00.28  40.22
 43  37  561067 PERKO Rok  1985  SLO   2:00.38  41.38
 44  50  510969 BONETTI Michael  1982  SUI   2:00.51  42.88
 45  56  201987 STRODL Andreas  1987  GER   2:00.59  43.81
 46  53  292056 GUFLER Michael  1979  ITA   2:01.03  48.89
 47  45  420911 SOLBAKKEN Bjarne  1977  NOR   2:01.36  52.71
 48  57  202059 FERSTL Josef  1988  GER   2:01.50  54.32
 49  55  201850 FISCHER Thomas  1986  GER   2:01.54  54.79

Did not start 1st run:
KUCERA John (CAN), BOURQUE Francois (CAN), MILLER Bode (USA)

Did not finish 1st run:
WOELFL Mathias (GER), GRAGGABER Thomas (AUT), RAINER Niklas (SWE), JOHNSON Justin J (USA), CLAREY Johan (FRA), JAERBYN Patrik (SWE)

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