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Mont Tremblant’s Erik Guay is having an excellent week at the world skiing championships.
Guay took silver in the downhill event on Sunday, 0.12 seconds behind world champion Beat Feuz of Switzerland. He won his second medal of the week just four days after winning the super-G title.
“Hats off to Beat, I think he did an incredible job today,” said the 35-year-old Guay, who was seeking to match American Bode Miller’s achievement 12 years ago of winning both speed races. “I felt some pressure, for sure.”
“Everybody’s talking about the Olympics but, honestly, I couldn’t care less about them,” said Guay in a phone interview from St. Moritz, Switzerland. “The Olympics, for ski racers, doesn’t mean that much. We get to go once every four years, we don’t run on the track beforehand. When you go to a track that you know from years before, it makes it more difficult to win. It makes it so that the organizers know how to prepare and run a downhill properly.
“A lot of times we show up at these Olympics and it’s supposed to be the greatest event on Earth but in reality it’s a little bit of a Mickey Mouse show.”
A lower start was used because the steep “Free Fall” section — the signature feature of the Corviglia course — was shrouded in clouds.
The marquee men’s race shaped as open when the Olympic champion, world champion, season-long World Cup champion, and the past six World Cup race winners were all different racers.
Less than two weeks ago, Guay badly bruised his buttock flying out of control off a jump in Garmisch, Germany. He credited the inflatable safety vest he wore for avoiding more serious injuries but it took some work to get back into racing shape.
“I look at where I came from with the massive crash in Garmisch, and then being able to come here, getting healthy beforehand, having some good training and then finally being able to walk home with two medals, it’s a really special week, especially knowing where I came from last week,” said Guay, who says he has no lingering affects from the injury.
