COURCHEVEL, France – Canada’s James Crawford won the men’s super-G by the slimmest of margins in a stunning upset at the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup.
Starting 10th down Courchevel’s gleaming L’Eclipse piste, Crawford grabbed the gold by finishing just 0.01 faster than Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and in a time of one minute 07.22 seconds.
Kilde, ninth out of the start hut, had barely time to celebrate going top, Reuters reported.
Local hero Alexis Pinturault, winner of the combined on Tuesday, had to settle for bronze and 0.26 off the pace after earlier raising hopes of a second win when he went fastest wearing bib number eight.
Switzerland’s World Cup overall leader Marco Odermatt was fourth and surprisingly out of the medals on a course set by the Swiss coach.
Austrian Marco Schwarz, starting 21st, had looked good for a late surprise with the fastest time through the third sector but then made a big error approaching the finish and dropped out of podium contention.
The gold was a first for Crawford, who took combined bronze at the 2022 Beijing Olympics but has yet to win a World Cup race although he has twice finished on the downhill podium this season.
The 25-year-old is the first Canadian super-G world champion since Erik Guay in St Moritz in 2017.
Austria’s 2021 super-G champion Vincent Kriechmayr finished 12th.
Italy’s Dominik Paris, the 2019 super-G world champion, crashed heavily at speed after pushing too aggressively and catching a ski edge on a gate.
Paris appeared to be in some pain but was able to stand and, skis removed, trudged off from the slope with Odermatt waiting to go next.
The Italian skiers were all wearing black armbands with the team mourning the death from cancer on Wednesday of 2005 downhill silver medallist Elena Fanchini.
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