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Sport Performance Weekly
February 26th , 2007 |
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SUN MEDIA
CALGARY—Erik Guay was just 12 years old the previous time a Canadian won a World Cup men’s downhill race.
So, it was only natural that yesterday—a full 13 years after Cary Mullen won in Aspen—that Guay punctuated his first World Cup win by paying tribute to the man who helped inspire him.
“I was just a little kid in Tremblant growing up and hoping that one day I could do the same thing as him,” said Guay from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
“I’ve been training for the last 10 years for this. It’s really something special.”
Mullen agreed.
“I’ve been hanging on to that record for a while and I’ve been waiting to hand over the torch for too long, but I’m so happy it’s to him,” said Mullen, 37, from his Calgary home where he jokingly admitted that Guay’s comments made him feel “a little old.”
“Over the last three or four years, I figured it would be him (who would win Canada’s next downhill), but there have been other charges lately from (Calgary’s Jan) Hudec, (Calgary’s John) Kucera and Manny (Osborne-Paradis of Vancouver). It’s just such an exciting time.”
Indeed it is for Canada’s men’s side, which posted another brilliant day with Hudec’s best World Cup finish (fifth) and Osborne-Paradis finishing seventh.
But the man of the hour was Guay, who confirmed what many of his competitors have believed for years—he is among the sport’s elite.
“I was really attacking at the bottom part of the course,” said Guay, a podium finisher in each of the past three downhills. “It played out at the bottom, I had a good line and brought a lot of speed into it. I took as many risks as possible.
“When I came through the finish line and I looked back and saw my time, I was ecstatic. I threw up my hands and pretty much knew the race was finished at that point.
Guay finished half a second ahead of Andrej Jerman of Slovenia, who won Friday’s race.
The win bolstered the Canadian team’s medal total to 11 this year, one short of its total a year earlier.
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EDMONTON—One year to the day removed from Olympic heartbreak in Italy, Canada’s four-man bobsled team stood atop the podium on the final stop of the gruelling World Cup Circuit in Koenigssee, Germany.
Pilot Pierre Lueders and David Bissett of Edmonton, Ken Kotyk of Rama, Sask., and Calgary’s Lascelles Brown captured the gold medal in a combined time of 1:37.41.
“This is is the best way to end the season—with a great performance, and going out on top,” said Lueders. “I’ve got a great team to work with, and I’m really proud of how we performed today.”
The U.S. settled for silver with a time of 1:37.50 and Latvia took the bronze in 1:37.54.
With the victory, Canada finished the World Cup four-man season third overall.
Although he’s delighted by ending the season with a win, Lueders, 37, cautions Canadians against reading too much into the victory with the Whistler Olympics still three years away.
“I don’t want to be a pessimist,” he said. “But let’s be honest. No one is going to remember who won the World Cup in 2007. All people are going to remember is the Olympic Games and the season leading up to the Olympics. “It’s great to have excitement, but ... there’s no way you can stay at a super-high level for four years. There will be peaks and valleys.”
Chris Rudge, CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee, sees no problem with Canadian athletes facing added pressure leading into the 2010 Games.
“You have to remember the athletes who are competing at this level—just like anyone else at top of game in business, sports, media or any other part of life—are generally really good at handling pressure,” Rudge said. “That’s how they got to the top in the first place.”
Rudge ranks Lueders as one of the best at handling the stress of an entire country hoping and praying for gold.
“Have you ever been down a bobsleigh track?” Rudge said. “He has nerves of steel.”
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Canadian Press
PENTICTON, B.C.–Jennifer Heil of Spruce Grove, Alta., captured her fourth straight gold medal at a World Cup moguls competition yesterday, while Kristi Richards of Summerland, B.C., took a bronze medal on the hill named after her.
The Canadian medal rush didn’t end there as Alex Bilodeau of Rosemere, Que., placed second and Maxime Gingras of St-Hippolyte, Que., third for his first career World Cup podium finish.
“My jumps were big, probably the biggest of the year,” Heil said.
Heil extended her overall points lead in a bid for a fourth straight season-long moguls title.
For Richards, it was her second medal this season after winning in Deer Valley, where Heil was second. “It’s the best run I’ve seen all year, and there was fresh snow when we got up this morning,” Richards said. “I couldn’t be more pumped. There can’t be a better place for me to do well. It’s my home course, and before my family and sponsors and friends.”
Dale Begg-Smith, the 2006 Olympic champion who was born in Canada but competes for Australia, won the men’s moguls, followed by Bilodeau and Gingras.
Canada’s moguls team for next month’s world championships was finalized after the event. The women’s team consists of Heil, Richards, Stephanie St. Pierre, Sylvia Kerfoot and Audrey Robichaud. The men’s selections are Bilodeau, Gingras, Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau and Warren Tanner.
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PENTICTON—Freestyle skier Steve Omischl is back on top of the world again.
After a miserable 2005-06 season, the North Bay, Ont., native who now lives in Kelowna won the final World Cup of the 2006-07 campaign at Apex Sunday and overtook American rival Jeret Peterson to win the Globe award that goes to the World Cup aerials overall champion.
Calgary’s Kyle Nissen made it even sweeter by finishing second for a 1-2 Canadian punch.
“I feel like I’m back on top,” said Omischl, the 2005 world champion who’ll once again be ranked No. 1 heading into the FIS world championships March 5-11 in Italy.
“This is a good confidence boost,” he continued. “I’ve had a few podiums this year but to win an event when the pressure’s on and jump as well as I did today in tough conditions when other studs are messing up ... I’m psyched, it’s a bit confidence boost for me.”
“It’s a great to do well at home in B.C.,” said Omischl, who had a 247.49 total score, well ahead of Nissen’s 238.07. Peterson had 231.53.
“Normally you win a Globe when you’re on a roll and you have years where you win them back to back,” said Omischl, who was second on the overall World Cup circuit in 2004-05. “To have two years where you don’t win the Globe ... it was mentally tough because it was a yoyo season.”
Omischl had a win in China, a second in Deer Valley, two fifth-place finishes and a seventh this season. He started the day trailing Peterson 308-306 but ended up out-pointing the American 406-368. His win and Nissen’s second-place finish helped relegate China’s Qiu Sen to fourth, and that made Grande Prairie, Alta.’s Cord Spero third in the overall points race with 228, seven ahead of Qiu Sen. Spero didn’t make Sunday’s final.
“It’s a beautiful day for Canada,” said Nissen. “There are so many good stories today. Steve wins the overall and this is my first podium of the season.” |
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Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea — Jasey-Jay Anderson of Mont-Tremblant, Que., won the parallel event at a snowboard World Cup meet Sunday.
Anderson finished ahead of Andreas Prommegger of Austria and Mathieu Bozzetto of France at the South Korea resort of Sungwoo.
With three rounds of the World Cup remaining, Anderson moved up to ninth place in the overall standings. Simon Schoch of Switzerland is in first place.
In the women’s event, World Cup leader Doresia Krings finished first, with Fraenzi Kohli of Switzerland second and Russia’s Svetlana Boldikova third.
Kimiko Zakreski of Calgary was fifth.
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The Toronto Sun
While her coach proclaimed it was time for the young players to move into more prominent roles, Danielle Goyette wasn’t about to get out of the way just yet.
“When you get towards the end, you know the end is closer than the beginning,” Goyette, 41, said yesterday after being named to Canada’s final roster for the 2007 IIHF world women’s hockey championship, which is scheduled for April 3-10 in Winnipeg and Selkirk, Man.
“Every time I get the call I want to prove to myself that I can do it. I’ve been evaluating myself for a long time and after every camp you know where you stand. I would never let myself go there and get cut because I’m not good enough."
The veteran, who will make her record ninth world championship appearance for Canada, is one of 20 players who received the good news from head coach Melody Davidson regarding their roster status this week. The lineup (12 forwards, six defencemen, and two goaltenders) will carry 17 players from the 2006 Olympic gold medal-winning team in Italy and 17 players with world championship experience.
Jennifer Botterill is on the team, as are fellow forwards Hayley Wickenheiser, Jayna Hefford, Cheryl Pounder, Vicky Sunohara. The defence will be led by veterans Cheryl Pounder, Gillian Ferrari, and Pilot Mound, Man.-product Delaney Collins, who is back on the roster after sitting out the Olympics as an alternate.
“If you look at our roster, we are offensive,” said Davidson.
Kim St.-Pierre and Charline Labonte will handle the goal-keeping duties. Players not on the roster include Cherie Piper (knee) and Becky Kellar, who is taking the winter off to have her second child.
Cracking the powerful Canadian lineup for her first major international tournament is 21-year-old Tessa Bonhomme. The Sudbury-born defenceman is one of several players Davidson singled out to take their games to the next level during the 10-day event.
“(She) will be a player to watch, she’s been in our program for a while and this is her opportunity,” said the coach, adding young forwards Meghan Agosta, Sarah Vaillancourt, and Gina Kingsbury also will be asked to take on increased responsibility.
Canada has won the gold in eight of nine world championships.
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Olympic Oval Release
Calgary, AB - - Six time Olympic medallist and Canadian Athlete of the Year Cindy Klassen will be competing in her first international competition on her home ice at the Olympic Oval since her sweeping successes of last season, including five Olympic medals, a World Allround Championship and two world records.
“Last year at the World Allround Championships it really helped me to be racing at home,” says Klassen, now 27. “It gave me a real boost of energy to hear our home town crowd cheering – and it was just fun!”
After Klassen finished the skating season last year, she expected to return to a regular spring and summer training routine and take a rest. However, with her amazing results in February and March 2006, life for Klassen had changed.
“Since the Olympics I got a lot busier. Usually when the season is over I put my feet up for a while, but last summer I had some incredible opportunities being involved with my sponsors,” says Klassen. “The best part of the whole experience for me is the impact I have had on kids; they have been so supportive and excited by what I have accomplished.”
With the World Cup Final on March 2, 3 and 4, 2007 at the Olympic Oval, Canadian fans have the chance once again to watch Klassen skate on her home ice and back her up along with the rest of Canada’s world class speed skaters.
“It feels like floating because there is so much glide on the Oval ice,” adds Klassen who is hoping for results good enough to qualify her for the World Single Distances Championships in Salt Lake City, USA.
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