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Almost precisely one yr from the day he captured an unbelievable Olympic bronze medal, Canadian ski racer Jack Crawford pulled off a fair greater shock as we speak on the alpine world championships in France, slaying a number of giants of the game to win gold within the males’s super-G.
The 25-year-old from Toronto, who’d by no means reached the rostrum on the world championships and has by no means received on the World Cup tour, put down a fearless run on a quick course to clip reigning World Cup super-G champion Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway by 0.01 of a second. Kilde was a double medallist ultimately yr’s Olympics and presently ranks second within the World Cup super-G and general standings.
Crawford additionally defeated Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt, the reigning World Cup general champ who’s dominating once more this season. Odermatt has reached the rostrum in all six World Cup super-G races, together with 4 wins, however he completed fourth as we speak regardless of the course being arrange by a Swiss coach to play to his strengths.
WATCH | Crawford displays on world super-G gold with CBC Sports’ Brenda Irving:
Jack Crawford on world championship super-G win: ‘It’s nonetheless form of a blur’
Toronto’s Jack Crawford spoke with CBC Sports’ Brenda Irving following his world championship super-G gold medal victory in Courchevel, France.
France’s Alexis Pinturault pinched the bronze from Odermatt, two days after the Frenchman received the world title within the mixed occasion (a super-G/slalom hybrid) in his hometown of Courchevel.
“Honestly, I’m in disbelief,” mentioned Crawford. “Winning a race on the whole has been a dream of mine since I used to be younger. For it to return in a world championships is superb.”
Crawford’s gold is simply the fourth by a Canadian man within the historical past of the alpine world championships, which began in 1931, and the primary since Erik Guay received the lads’s super-G six years in the past. Canadian girls have captured 11 world titles, however none since Mélanie Turgeon’s downhill win 20 years in the past.
Crawford is incomes a status for rising to the event on the greatest occasions. He arrived on the Beijing Winter Olympics final February with out a single top-level medal to his identify and promptly nearly stole a downhill bronze, putting fourth by an agonizing 0.07 of a second. Undaunted, Crawford rebounded to take bronze within the mixed on Feb. 9.
Since then, Crawford has captured his first three medals on the World Cup circuit — first grabbing silver in a super-G final March earlier than including a downhill silver and bronze this season. He presently ranks sixth within the downhill standings and twelfth within the chase for the general crystal globe, emblematic of the highest all-around ski racer on tour.
WATCH | Canadian Olympian Stemmle discusses Crawford’s gold:
Olympian Brian Stemmle will get emotional over Jack Crawford’s gold medal win
Retired Canadian alpine skier Brian Stemmle joins CBC Sports’ Anastasia Bucsis to debate the significance of Jack Crawford’s gold medal win in Super-G on the FIS Alpine Ski World Championships.
A decade in the past, Crawford performed on a faculty hockey group with Connor McDavid, who’s additionally from the Toronto space. The expertise confirmed Crawford that he’d higher deal with snowboarding. “I do not doubt that I might have been a fairly good hockey participant, however watching him form of cruise across the ice is an identical manner that I watch Odermatt ski,” Crawford mentioned as we speak. “For some purpose, he is simply higher than all people else.” Read extra about Crawford’s beautiful super-G world title and watch highlights and evaluation of his victory right here.
The alpine world championships take a break tomorrow earlier than resuming with the ladies’s downhill Saturday and the lads’s downhill Sunday. Watch them each dwell at 5 a.m. ET on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.
