On Thursday, Feb. 10, after already finishing fourth in downhill and sixth in super-G at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, Canada’s Jack Crawford made history when he became the first Canadian to ever win an Olympic medal in the 86 years that the alpine combined event has been part of the Games.
Less than 24 hours after claiming the bronze, Crawford and the rest of the alpine team were back in Vancouver. And the following day he returned home to Whistler for a media availability to talk about his historic performance.
Carrying his medal in his pocket as opposed to flaunting it around his neck as many would do so soon after achieving their lifelong dream, Crawford mentions how he chose to do this in Whistler because he knew there would be less of a scrum of reporters to deal with, something that makes the 24-year-old ski racer nervous despite competing in front of millions of people on the world stage less than two days prior.
While the gravity of being the first Canadian to ever accomplish a podium finish in alpine combined hadn’t fully set in yet for Crawford, he did his best to recount the moment he made history and the emotions that came with it.
Being so close to a couple podiums already at these Games, Crawford said the doubts and stress started to creep in shortly after crossing the finish line and seeing he was just nine hundredths of a second off the top spot with many of the top slalom skiers still to race.
“When I came through the finish line, I honestly thought, ‘I’m going to be fourth again’ … and there was a little bit of sting coming through. I thought, ‘holy crap I’m going to be fourth again, fifth again, I just can’t seem to make it onto the podium.’ And from there it was just a lot of stress watching those next three or four main contenders who could bump me off the podium. I was just really happy to be on the side of luck that day and not get bumped off,” said Crawford, adding that he experienced a wave of relief when his podium placing became official.
“To me it felt like all season I had been skiing to a podium potential, and each race I was coming fifth, sixth, seventh, always improving on my race from the week before, and to actually come out to the Olympics and be fourth in the downhill and sixth in the super-G, I just felt like it was around the corner and I was just really happy to finally achieve what I’ve been trying to get done all season.”
While Crawford’s results in all three of his events were the high mark for the Canadians, fellow Whistler Mountain Ski Club (WMSC) graduates Brodie Seger and Broderick Thompson haven’t been strangers to great results themselves over the last couple seasons, with a fourth-place finish at the 2021 World Championships for Seger and a bronze medal at the Beaver Creek World Cup earlier this season for Thompson, not to mention each finishing top 10 in alpine combined in Beijing.
Together, these three, as well as Cam Alexander and Trevor Philp, represent the next ones up in the long line of Canadian alpine teams to keep the ski race flame alive and well in Canada.
It all started with the Crazy Canucks in the ’70s and ’80s, named by co-founder of the World Cup Serge Lang after seeing the way the Canadians put it all on the line at every race.
And with inspiration from the Crazy Canucks trickling down through Canada’s ski race program throughout the years, the next group of hotshot ski racers thrust into the limelight were the Canadian Cowboys, named by Lang’s son Patrick for the cowboy hat passed among the teammates for each event’s top performer.
“I don’t know how much we brought it back, but to keep that flame going was really cool. To know that we were making our mark on Canadian ski racing history, and to just be able to write your own chapter in the history books for Canadian ski racing was pretty fun,” said three-time Whistler Olympian Mike Janyk, one of the members of the Canadian Cowboys.
“It was just really fun and I think it meant that I’ll be forever connected to that group. Every time I see or talk with my teammates, there’s just like, a little wink, like, ‘I know what you did and what we were a part of and how it inspired some in the next generation.’ I was inspired by the generation before me, and we hopefully inspired the next generation.”
While this new group hasn’t been given a name encapsulating its particular brand of Canadian ski racing just yet, there is still plenty of time to join the likes of those before them.
Besides, there are more important things on the agenda for the team, like the last few World Cup stops of the season and making their appearances at some WMSC youth events to spread a little inspiration of their own to the next generation of rippers.
“It feels amazing to be a role model,” said Crawford. “Ski racing in Canada has definitely dropped as a popular sport over the last few years after the Canadian Cowboys all retired, so I’m just hoping with the momentum our team is bringing with my teammates, that we can be that next group that kind of brings ski racing back to the spotlight and makes it great again.”
