Canadian flavour: Cam Alexander skis to downhill bronze in worlds debut, Crawford 5th
Teammate Brodie Seger flown to hospital after awkwardly landing jump
In his world championship debut, alpine skier Cam Alexander raced to bronze in men's downhill on Sunday for Canada's second medal following Jack Crawford's super-G title Thursday in France.
Alexander, who started 20th, stopped the clock in one minute 47.94 seconds, 89-100ths of a second behind Swiss winner Marco Odermatt (1:47.05) and Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (1:47.53).
"This means everything," a beaming Alexander told Alpine Canada. "I'm very, very happy, it's the greatest feeling in the world. The guys here are so fast, I knew that I had to bring my best skiing and to push all the way down. I was talking to myself towards the end, making sure that I kept pushing."
Crawford, who stood third for a while on another bright day in the French Alps, was fifth in 1:48.06 and "not surprised at all" with Alexander's performance.
"Cam, he's always had the speed, he has battled through some unfortunate injuries that have kind of sidelined him for a little while," Crawford said in Courchevel. "His speed and ability is right up there with me and the other guys on our team."
WATCH l Alexander crosses finish line in 1:47.94 in French Alps:
Alexander, 25, noted Crawford's gold-medal performance inspired his teammates and raised their confidence.
"Our group really pushes each other in training and his win showed us that our best skiing has a shot at the podium," Alexander said. "We've all been working so hard for so long; I know that it's just a matter of time for the rest of the guys. Going to celebrate this and looking forward to building on it."
Three weeks ago, Alexander showed his potential for reaching the medal podium when he tied for sixth at a World Cup downhill in Kitzbuhel, Austria, 1.5 seconds behind Kilde.
On Jan. 29, he placed 20th in super-G action in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
Sunday's race was interrupted for 20 minutes after Brodie Seger of North Vancouver, B.C., awkwardly landed a jump and apparently hurt his right knee. He was taken off the hill on a stretcher and flown to hospital by helicopter.
Calgary's Jeff Read rounded out the Canadian contingent in 30th (1:49.50) after placing 11th in super-G at these worlds.
WATCH l Crawford 5th three days after standing atop podium:
Odermatt won gold for his first career world championship medal after posting a flawless run on the demanding L'Eclipse course to beat Kilde by 0.48 seconds as the latter added to his silver from Thursday's super-G.
Odermatt let out a few screams after posting the fastest time. He had not won a medal in eight previous starts at senior world championships, after winning five gold at the 2018 junior worlds.
"It was definitely something I'd never felt before, this scream at the finish," Odermatt said. "Also, those two minutes during Aleks' run, I was shaking all over my body like never before."
Odermatt is the defending overall World Cup champion and is dominating the circuit again this season, but had not won a downhill race before.
WATCH l Odermatt makes it a Swiss downhill double in France:
His gold medal came three days after he finished fourth in the super-G, an event in which he was heavily favoured after winning four of this season's six World Cup races.
"The fourth place from three days ago makes this gold even nicer," Odermatt said.
Defending champion Vincent Kriechmayr lost his chance of a medal as he struggled in the Trou Noir (Black Hole), where racers land a jump in the dark shade and cannot see the tracks and bumps of the course.
"It was a good run but you have to race error-free here, and I didn't manage to do that. All in all, just not good enough," Kriechmayr said. "Odermatt had the perfect run, for sure."
The start of the L'Eclipse course is in the sun, but racers soon enter a lengthy shaded middle part through a forest before coming out in the sun again for the finish.
The sunshine didn't affect the race like it had done in the women's downhill Saturday, when the sun started beaming down on the Roc de Fer course in Meribel and seemed to break down the course and slow the later starters.
Odermatt's victory made it a Swiss downhill double after Jasmine Flury won the women's race.
Racing continues Tuesday with team parallel. Watch live coverage on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem for iOS and Android devices. Competition concludes Feb. 19 with men's slalom.
WATCH | Full coverage of Sunday's men's downhill:
With files from CBC Sports
