Jack Crawford of Whistler Mountain Ski Club (WMSC) finished 10th on Nov. 27 at the FIS World Cup's opening super-G race of the season in Lake Louise, Alta. The 25-year old's time of one minute, 33.86 seconds (1:33.86) placed him just two one-hundredths of a second behind Swiss athlete Stefan Rogentin. Fellow WMSC alum Brodie Seger, 26, finished 13th in 1:34.06, while Jeffrey Read of Canmore, Alta. came 21st and Riley Seger of North Vancouver (another WMSC product) placed 27th.
Other WMSC alums in action were 28-year-old Broderick Thompson (tied for 42nd) and 23-year-old Kyle Alexander (DNF).
Super-G combines the speed of downhill with some of the technicality found in giant slalom and has long been a marquee event in ski racing. Marco Odermatt of Switzerland, the defending Olympic gold medallist in giant slalom, prevailed on Sunday in a time of 1:32.53. Odermatt is considered a favourite for the overall World Cup title this year and has already won two of his three races so far.
Thirteen-time World Cup gold medallist Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway was second (1:32.90) and three-time Austrian Olympic champion Matthias Mayer came third (1:33.31). The race had to be stopped for about 20 minutes as Swiss competitor Mauro Caviezel suffered a brutal fall in his return to racing after a two-year injury-induced absence. Fortunately, the 34-year-old Caviezel eventually got back up and was transported to the hospital via helicopter.
There were originally two super-G races scheduled for last weekend's World Cup opener, but the one on Nov. 26 had to be cancelled to make way for the downhill, which in turn was rescheduled from Nov. 25 due to heavy snow. Kilde prevailed in the downhill (1:47.98) ahead of Austrian Daniel Hemetsberger (1:48.04) and Odermatt (1:48.08).
Seger and Read were the top Canadians in downhill last weekend, finishing 26th and 27th respectively. Crawford managed a 47th place result and Thompson came 50th.
For more information on the 2022-23 FIS season, visit the Alpine Canada website.
