Osborne-Paradis shines in Gardena for Canada
Source: Agencies |
December 20, 2009, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MANUEL Osborne-Paradis won yesterday's traditional downhill on the Saslong course in Val Gardena, Italy, giving the injury-hit Canadian squad some much-needed relief.
Osborne-Paradis covered the 3.446-kilometer layout in two minutes, 1.27 seconds for his second victory this season. Mario Scheiber of Austria was second, 0.13 seconds behind, while Swiss racer Ambrosi Hoffmann and Johan Clarey of France tied for third, 0.25 seconds behind the Canadian.
Most of the pre-race favorites struggled against headwinds.
While there have been an unusually high number of skiers injured this season, the Canadian team has been particularly hard hit, already losing downhill world champion John Kucera, Jean-Philippe Roy, Larisa Yurkiw and Kelly Vanderbeek before its home Olympics in Vancouver on February 12-28.
Another Canadian, Francois Bourque, pulled up with a suspected torn anterior cruciate ligment in his left knee during Friday's super-G in Val Gardena, and will probably also miss the rest of the season.
It was the third victory of Osborne-Paradis' career. He also won a super-G in Lake Louise, Alberta, last month, and took a downhill in Kvitfjell, Norway, at the end of last season.
Two-time defending champion Michael Walchhofer of Austria finished fifth, American Bode Miller was ninth with a sore ankle and Swiss Didier Cuche -- skiing with a broken rib -- was 10th.
The circuit heads over the Gardena pass to nearby Alta Badia for giant slalom and slalom races today and tomorrow.
In Val d'Isere, France, bad weather forced organizers to call off yesterday's women's World Cup downhill.
The race had been scheduled to start at 10:45am local time and was first delayed until 12 noon and then put back to 1pm, but thick fog and light snowfalls eventually persuaded organizers to call it off.
A new date has yet to be set for the race.
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