Frédérique Turgeon's downhill silver highlights Canada's 3-medal day at Para alpine World Cup finals
Alexis Guimond, Kurt Oatway also reach downhill podiums with bronze medals in Italy
The Canadian Para alpine skiing team picked up three downhill medals on Saturday at the World Cup finals in Sella Nevea, Italy.
Frédérique Turgeon of Candiac, Que., raced to silver in the women's standing event in a time of 57.48 seconds — her third Word Cup medal this season to go along with world championship bronze in the same event.
Reigning world champion Anna-Maria Rieder of Germany finished just ahead of Turgeon for gold in 56.79, while France's Aurélie Richard rounded out the podium (58.57).
"I felt super confident in the start," Turgeon said in a release. "I gave it all I've got but made a few mistakes, including one at the bottom that I think cost me first place. I know what to do tomorrow and I'm ready to do it. This course is really fast, a little scary, but after the boring days off because of the weather it's great to have a new challenge."
The two-time Paralympic medallist claimed downhill bronze at worlds in Spain in January, and was once again bested by the same two competitors.
Switzerland's Robin Cuche, who finished ahead of Guimond for silver at worlds, topped the podium with a time of 51.77, while reigning world champion Markus Salcher of Austria finished second (53.03).
Calgary sit-skier Kurt Oatway also reached the podium on Saturday, taking home downhill bronze for his second medal of the season with a time of 51.29.
WE LOVE TO SEE IT 👉 after a couple cancelled races due to weather, <a href="https://twitter.com/CPASkiTeam?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CPASkiTeam</a> came out with a BANG with not one… not two… but THREE podiums for day one of DH in Sella Nevea!<br><br>🥈 <a href="https://twitter.com/frede_turgeon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@frede_turgeon</a> <br>🥉 <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexisGuimond?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AlexisGuimond</a> <br>🥉 <a href="https://twitter.com/KOatway?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KOatway</a> <br><br>HUGE DAY FOR YOUR <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CANskiteam?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CANskiteam</a> 👏 💯 . <a href="https://t.co/3TE46v76lM">pic.twitter.com/3TE46v76lM</a>
—@Alpine_CanadaDutch Paralympian Jeroen Kampschreur won the event in 50.54, finishing ahead of five-time Paralympic gold medallist Jesper Pedersen of Norway.
Brian Rowland of Merrickville, Ont., delivered a career-best sixth-place finish (54.28).
Action in Sella Nevea continues Sunday with the second downhill events.
The World Cup season wraps up with slalom and giant slalom races in Cortina, Italy from March 13-17.