It was a great weekend for Canadian skiers at the Lake Louise Winterstart World Cup, with Jan Hudec of Calgary finishing fourth in Sunday’s super-G race and Erik Guay of Mont-Tremblant, Que., taking sixth place at the Alberta resort.
Ben Thomsen of Invermere, B.C., was 27th, while Louis-Pierre Helie, of Berthierville, Que., was 53rd. Robbie Dixon of Whistler, B.C, and Dustin Cook of Lac-Sainte-Marie, Que., skied off course.
The Canadian skiers, who can often be seen working out at WinSport Canada’s Bob Niven Training Centre, have always had plenty of success at Louise.
“As soon as I came through the finish and heard the people screaming, I knew it was a good run,” said Hudec, who won the downhill at Louise in 2007 and was 12th in Saturday’s downhill. “I put everything on the line, skied smart where I had to and just made that one mistake on the bottom – but that’s a calculated risk.”
Hudec’s time was one minute 24.21 seconds. Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal won the race in 1:23.47, while Switzerland’s Didier Cuche was second (1:23.70), and France’s Adrien Theaux rounded out the podium (1:24.11).
Guay clocked a time of 1:24.29.
For the women, Marie-Michele Gagnon of Lac-Etchemin, Que., was 11th at a World Cup slalom race in Aspen, Colo., while Anna Goodman of Pointe Claire, Que., was 20th.
Austria’s Marlies Schild won the race, while Sweden’s Maria Pietilae-Holmner was second and Germany’s Maria Hoefl-Riesch was third.
