TORINO: Alpine: Four is no score as Canadians just miss podium

TORINO: Alpine: Four is no score as Canadians just miss podium{mosimage}SESTRIERE, Italy – Oh, so close, Canada.

As the U.S. Ski Team struggles to live up to its “Best in the World” mantra at the Torino Winter Games, the Canadian alpiners have made it clear that North American ski racing supremacy is up for grabs.

Monday, Canada was poised for one of its greatest days in the last decade, with 21-year-old Francois Bourque primed for a giant slalom win and Kelly Vanderbeek in solid shape in the women’s super G.

But a conservative second run by Bourque and a bit too much Austrian dominance in San Sicario resulted in two fourth-place finishes. Erik Guay of Canada finished fourth in the men’s super G on Saturday.

“When I imagined myself before the race, I thought I could get top five, but after the first run I was leading, so I expected a little more,” Bourque said. “I think for my first Olympics it’s not too bad.”

Bourque had put forth a blistering run to record the fastest first-run time, 1 minute, 16.61 seconds. But his second-run time was just 12th fastest.

“It was a good clean run,” Canadian alpine director Max Gartner said of Bourque’s second run of GS. “He won four medals at the World Junior Championships, so he’s won big races. This is a little bigger than big, but I think he’s a really cool customer.

Bourque, 21, has had a solid Games thus far, also placing eighth in super G, 16th in downhill and 21st in combined. He has just two career World Cup podiums, both thirds — in the Alta Badia GS Dec. 18, 2005, and the Garmisch super G Feb. 20, 2005.

“I skied well, those were tough conditions, but I broke the ice in the super G and combined downhill,” Bourque said after run one. “… If you make any mistakes, it really carries with you, and I was one of the cleanest on the top.”

The Canadians placed three men in the top 10 in the first run, with veteran Thomas Grandi ninth and Jean Philippe Roy 10th. Grandi finished 10th in the race after two runs, while Roy did not finish his second run.

“It’s disappointing,” Grandi said. “I was hoping for a medal today. I was gunning for a medal and it just didn’t work out. It was tough conditions out there, tough to hold in some sections on that ice.”

Grandi indicated that the pressure may have hindered Bourque. “For a young guy like him, it’s a tough position to be in,” Grandi said. “Maybe it would have been better if he was second or third or fourth after the first run, but being first, I think, it was a lot of pressure.”

Roy, who injured his knee in a Bormio GS last year, said, “I was happy with the first run. For sure I was thinking about [the injury], but I tried to focus on what I had to do technically. But the Olympics got the better of me. You have a good feeling in the Olympics, you go faster without maybe having the best approach.”

As for his teammate? “I think he was pretty good,” Roy said of Bourque. “It’s hard to tell sometimes with Frankie. He must have been nervous for sure. It’s the Olympics, and leading the first run. It’s a pretty big deal for anyone. I think he did a really good job. He maybe held on a little in some places where he should have gone faster, but again maybe he would have done a mistake. I think he did a great job. Too bad that other people took more risk than him and made it.”