A Canadian speeds to World Cup Super-G win

LAKE LOUISE, Canada - Canada’s Manuel Osborne-Paradis captured his first career World Cup Super-G alpine skiing event by winning the season-opening race on Sunday.

Osborne-Paradis flashed down the course in a time of 1 minute 32.93 seconds to finish ahead of a pair of Austrians, Benjamin Raich and Michael Walchhofer.

“Wow, did anybody else expect this? I didn’t,” Osborne-Paradis said. “I think BetWin.com made a lot of money today. Nobody won on that bet.”

Four-time Olympic medalist Raich finished second by clocking a time of 1 minute 33.17 seconds while Walchhofer was third in 1 minute 33.55 seconds. Osborne-Paradis had a couple of disappointing training runs in Lake Louise this week. He finished 46th in the first and was then disqualified in the second for missing a gate.

However, he put it all together on race day in conditions that were similar to Saturday’s downhill. The light snow that fell didn’t bother him, and he benefitted from an early starting time as the later competitors had to contend with poor lighting on the course.

The tough conditions took a toll as 20 skiers failed to finish. Osborne-Paradis, known more for his downhill prowess, last season his previous best Super-G result of 13th place.

“It is a thrill to know I am getting better in Super-G,” Osborne-Paradis said. “It feels great to finally pull off a win.”

This is also just the 25-year-old’s second World Cup victory to go with a downhill win last year in Kvitfjell, Norway. Osborne-Paradis capped a superb day for the Canadians, who placed three skiers in the top five.

But Canada also saw its reigning downhill world champion John Kucera suffer a broken leg in a crash.

The Austrians also had a strong and impressive race taking two podium spots and having four skiers in the top 20. AFP