Crawford wins and Alexander is 3rd in World Cup downhill as Canadian team impresses in Kitzbuehel

KITZBUEHEL, Austria (AP) — James Crawford became the first Canadian skier in 42 years to win the prestigious downhill World Cup on the Streif course, sharing the podium with third teammate Cameron Alexander on Saturday.

Wearing BIB No. 20 and coming down after all the race favorites had completed their runs, Crawford stunned the field with an attacking run on one of the toughest courses on the circuit.

He then collided with leader Alexis Monney in second to deny the dominant Swiss team another victory.

“It’s truly incredible. It was a dream to win the classics,” said Crawford. “I think the mindset and approach I brought was good. This allowed me to be at top speed up and down. »

Alexander’s run 15 minutes earlier had inspired Crawford to his winning effort.

“Cam and I go back and forth to training and racing all the time,” Crawford said. “To see him push and ski that way at the top, it kind of pulled me a little bit. I was like, “I know I can beat this guy, so let’s bring it today.” “

In front of 45,000 spectators, Monney took an early lead as the fourth starter and Swiss skier looked poised for his second career victory, weeks later triumph in Bormio On the downhill course to be used for next year’s Jean-Cortina Olympics. Alexander also finished third in this race.

But Crawford, the Super-G world championBeating Monney by just 0.08 seconds for Canada’s first career World Cup victory. Alexander followed by 0.22 in third and Austria’s Daniel Hetsberger was 0.43 behind in fourth.

“I’ve already shown some speed going downhill and I feel like I’ve been trying to get back to top speed for a while,” Crawford said. “I don’t have words that can describe the emotions. It’s just amazing and doing it in Kitzbuehel is even better. »

Monney admitted it hurt to miss what would have been the Swiss ski team’s 12th victory this season.

“A little, yes, when you’re ahead for so long. But that’s also what makes ski racing so beautiful,” Monney said.

The last Canadian winner of the iconic downhill in Kitzbuehel was Todd Brooker in 1983, and the last time two Canadian downhills shared a World Cup podium was in February 2012, when Jan Hudec won and Erik Guay finished third in Chamonix, France.

The impressive result for the Canadian team came 10 days before the start of the world championships in another Austrian resort, Saalbach-Hinterglemm. Crawford in Super-G and Alexander, who took bronze in downhill, won medals at the worlds in France two years ago.

Downhill world champion and three-time World Cup winner Marco Odermatt finished sixth, a day after the Swiss star triumphed in the super-g.

“It was a solid race, not the best, and with the best race you can’t win Kitzbuehel, the downhill,” Odermatt said. “A great goal and a dream remains.”

Last year in Kitzbuehel, Odermatt finished second to Cyprien Sarrazin, the French skier who has been out since undergoing surgery on a head injury suffered in a downhill training accident four years ago. weeks.

Sarrazin said in a video Friday, on his social networks, that he is recovering well, but suffers from double vision.

A slalom Sunday concludes the 85th edition of the Hahnenkamm Classic Races, which have a total prize fund of more than $1 million.

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AP Skiing: