It's not quite a podium, but it's something to feel good about for Jack Crawford in Beaver Creek, Colo.
The Whistler Mountain Ski Club (WMSC) product carved his way to fourth at the opening men's downhill race of the present World Cup campaign. At one minute and 40.55 seconds, he was less than two-tenths of a second away from bronze.
A pair of Swiss athletes emerged on top, with Justin Murisier (1:40.04) edging out Marco Odermatt (1:40.24) for victory. Third place went to Miha Hrobat of Slovenia (1:40.39).
"I felt really comfortable on my skis and I felt that I could just go out and send it today,” said Crawford in a press release. “I really wanted to go out and bring the skiing that I’ve been searching for the last year. I was able to trust in all the work I’ve put into my skiing and today felt easy, like I could flow down the mountain."
"I had a good plan today and I was able to lean into it. The snow and the course here are similar to what we grew up skiing on so it’s easy for me to trust myself to do the right things."
Brodie Seger was the next-fastest Canadian with a career-best tenth, the ACL tear he suffered in 2023 firmly in his rearview mirror.
"I definitely had some first-race jitters beforehand but I’m pretty happy with this result,” Seger told the media. "I saw Jack’s result when I was preparing at the top and I tried to use that as a little motivation for my run. It is a relief to start the season with a decent result early in the season and I want to build confidence from here."
He continued: "Feels like a weight off my shoulders after last season coming back from a knee injury. Felt like I was trending in the right direction in the summer, but it’s always a different story to put it together on race day."
Full results from Beaver Creek are available here.
