Having never won a World Cup event in the super-G before, Canadian James Crawford caused everyone’s surprise by becoming world champion in the specialty on Thursday in Courchevel, France.
“Honestly, I don’t believe it,” Crawford said, as quoted by the official website of the International Ski Federation. [FIS]. I skied my best [jeudi]. I really just tried to have the same mindset from top to bottom.
“Winning a race in general has been a dream of mine since I was young. It’s unbelievable that this happens in a world championship.
impostor syndrome
Crawford finished the course in 1:07.22, beating Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde by a mere hundredth of a second. The local favorite Alexis Pinturault (+0.26 s) climbed on the third step of the podium.
However, Kilde won his second crystal globe in this discipline at the end of the previous season. The super-G has also given him nine of his 20 World Cup victories. But nothing in the World Championship. As such, Crawford almost apologized for triumphing.
“I’m a bit lucky, we could have gone down again and [Kilde] could have won, Crawford modestly argued. He is one of the best in the world. I have enormous respect for him. I feel bad for beating him, but it’s unbelievable.”
A brutal sport
Crawford has only three World Cup podiums. However, they were all achieved in 2022, as was his bronze medal in combined at the Beijing Olympics. Aged 25, he is slowly becoming a real threat to the best skiers in the world.
“It’s a classic example of a brutal sport, but a great sport,” Kilde said. These are small margins. You have a guy who has never won a race before, he comes in and gets a gold medal. It’s brilliant.”
Three other Canadians were in the running. Brodie Seger and Jeffrey Read finished ninth and 11th respectively, while Broderick Thompson did not finish the downhill.