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Podium finish sets new Canadian record

Guay breaks Steve Podborski's record at Bormio downhill
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RECORD SETTER: Erik Guay skis to a third-place finish in the Dec. 29 World Cup downhill at Bormio, Italy. The result was Guay’s 21st podium finish in a World Cup race, establishing a new Canadian record for top-three finishes. Pentaphoto / Courtesy of Alpine Canada

Erik Guay didn't need much time to cement his status as Canada's most successful alpine skier.

Just one week after he tied Steve Podborski's mark of 20 World Cup podium finishes, Guay grabbed the record all to himself with a third-place finish in the downhill at Bormio, Italy, on Sunday, Dec. 29.

"It's awesome to set the record and especially in Bormio, a place where I've never had a podium before," said Guay. "It was huge to be able to tie Steve Podborski's record and to be able to beat it a week later is really special."

Guay has collected his 21 World Cup medals over a 10-year period, his first coming in a runner-up finish at the Lake Louise downhill in 2003. Six of those finishes have come in super-G; all 20 of Podborski's medals were earned in downhill races between 1979 and 1984.

"Honestly, I think tying Steve was more important," said Guay, who equalled Podborski's total with a victory at Val Gardena, Italy, on Dec. 22. "I knew it was kind of over and at least I had that. To break it is obviously great, especially the weekend after, but it wasn't really my ambition right now. I was just focusing on the race at hand.

"But to get that record is incredible and to be part of that group of elite athletes with Steve Podborski is really special."