Canadian nationals: Guay gains GS crown

rik Guay earned the first national giant slalom title of his career on a soggy Saturday in Whistler, B.C.., at the Pontiac GMC Canadian Championships.

WHISTLER, British Columbia — Erik Guay earned the first national giant slalom title of his career on a soggy Saturday in Whistler, B.C.., at the Pontiac GMC Canadian Championships.
    Guay had already won previous Canadian national titles in downhill, super G and combined in his young career and won his first GS in a two-run combined time of two minutes 12.64 seconds.
    "I’m really happy, especially with my first run. My GS is really coming around," said Guay, who sat in second after the opening run.
    "I’m glad that I won, I didn’t want it to be a waste of my time out here in the rain," he quipped. "There’s nothing you can do about weather, you just have to go out there and deal with it. I’m happy with how I did that today," he said.
    Guay, now has five Canadian championships to his credit, though he actually had not won a national title in any discipline since 2003 when he won the Super G.
    Scott Barrett finished second with the fastest second run, while American Tim Jitloff was third in 2:13.41.
    First-run leader and defending national GS champion John Kucera, struggled with the 30th fastest second run and ended up 21st overall.
    Five-time Canadian giant slalom champion Thomas Grandi finished eighth.
    Alberta’s Brady Leman finished 20th and was able to retain the lead in the men’s chase for the Pontiac GMC Cup overall title with 640 points. Cameron Stuart, who is also from Alberta, sits in second but trails by over 100 points.
    On the women’s side, Marie-Michèle Gagnon moved into first overall with her third place finish in yesterday’s Women’s GS. Gagnon currently has 477 points followed closely by B.C.’s Elli Terwiel with 455 points. Quebec’s Eve Routhier, who was 21st yesterday, is in 3rd overall.