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U.S., Croatian skiers dominate downhill

Canadians respectable but no medals so far at FIS Alpine World Championships

The U.S. Ski Team made history last weekend with the one-two punch of Bode Miller and Daron Rhalves netting the gold and silver medals in the men’s world championship downhill at Bormio, Italy. Miller is the first non-European to be a downhill world champion, and it was also the first time two American skiers have finished first and second in any championship race.

Austria’s Michael Walchhofer and Fritz Strobl were third and fourth, respectively.

The Canadians, despite solid results in training, had to chalk the event up to another learning experience.

John Kucera of Calgary was the top racer, finishing 16 th . Whistler Mountain Ski Club alumnus Manuel Osborne-Paradis was 19 th , Quebec’s Erik Guay was 22 nd and Whistler’s Jeff Hume 30 th .

"I would have liked to have made the top-15 but this is my first world champ experience so I also have to look at my overall experience. So far I can say that is has been a great experience," said Kucera.

Osborne-Paradis was more critical: "I’m not really happy because I made more mistakes today than in my previous runs," he said.

Guay, who posted one of the fastest training times, was more than a little disappointed.

"I really didn’t ski well," he said. "I don’t know if it was because of my nerves but I didn’t manage to ski a clean run."

Hume, who finished sixth in a World Cup downhill this season, said his mistake was trying too hard.

"Things didn’t work for me all week in training so I was shooting to do my best today," he said. "I tried everything and pushed hard but sometimes that is not the right approach. I ended up making more mistakes than necessary by trying too hard."

The Canadian women had a better time, with Fernie’s Emily Brydon finishing 11 th – 0.01 seconds out of the top-10. Still, she was hoping to do better.

"This 11 th place is definitely disappointing," she said. "I was feeling 100 per cent this morning and I gave it all today. But I just made too many mistakes for it to be a winning run. I want to be a winner and this is certainly not the kind of result that is satisfying to me."

Kelly Vanderbeek of Ontario was 23 rd .

Janica Kostelic of Croatia has returned to the form that won her three Olympic medals in 2002.

In addition to winning the world championship downhill, she also won the gold medal in the combined event. Not only was it her first medal in a speed event, she is also on track to become only the fourth women to win three titles at a single world championship with a strong showing in the slalom event.

She was trailed in the downhill by Elena Fanchini of Italy. Renate Goetschl of Austria took the bronze.

Canadians were solid in the women’s combined event, with Brigitte Acton finishing 12 th , and Brydon and Anna Goodman finishing 13 th and 16 th respectively.

Acton, 19, is only in her second season with the national team and this is her first world championship appearance.

"I’m pretty happy," she said. "My downhill run was pretty solid. I was a bit nervous for the first slalom run and I could feel that it was harder to get into the short-turn rhythm. But in the second run, I tried to relax and to focus on what I had to do.

"I came here for experience so I wasn’t really targeting a specific result. Ultimately, I hope this kind of experience will help me qualify for the Olympics."

In the men’s combined event, Kucera and Francois Bourque finished in the top-10 with career-best performances. Four Canadian racers started the day in the top-10 after the downhill, with Guay sixth, Osborne-Paradis seventh, Bourque eighth and Kucera 10 th .

In the end it would come down to the slalom, with Kucera putting down two solid runs to finish ninth overall.

"This is awesome," said Kucera, a 20-year-old member of the development team. "My goal was to be in the top-10 and I did it. I felt good after the downhill run and I knew I could win a few places in the slalom."

Bourque finished the day in 10 th place, moving up four spots with his second slalom run.

Osborne-Paradis, who has been specializing in speed events since joining the national team this year, ended the day in 17 th place. Guay didn’t take part in the slalom event, preferring to rest for the downhill.

In the women’s giant slalom on Tuesday, Anja Paerson of Sweden took the gold medal, followed by Tanja Poutiainen of Finland and Julia Macuso of the U.S.

There were three Canadians in the top-13 after the first run, but a wave of bad luck followed in the next run.

Genevieve Simard was the top Canadian in eighth place, less than a second back of the podium. She was on pace for something bigger, but caught her arm on a gate at the mid-way point.

"Even though I made a costly mistake in the second run and moved back in the ranks, I’m still very happy with my day," said Simard. "I am leaving town with my head high because I really went for it and gave it my best in both runs."

Gail Kelly ended up in 19 th place, losing her pole halfway through her second run.

Allison Forsyth was in 10 th after the first run and was having a solid second run when she slid off course on her hip in sight of the finish line. She was uninjured, but upset that she couldn’t match or beat her bronze medal world championship performance of 2003.

Brigitte Acton was 13 th after the first run, but fell in her second run. She was also uninjured.

The world championships wrap up this week with the men’s giant slalom, and men’s and women’s slalom events.