Canada came close to winning its first Olympic downhill medal since 1994. James Crawford did it all, but only seven hundredths of a second separated him from his dream of an Olympic podium on Sunday night.
Posted at 1:24 a.m.
The Ontarian had had some good runs in training, but given the track conditions, it was hard to know what to expect.
Vincent Kriechmayr, the first skier to descend the slope, delivered a good descent. He also had the lead for quite a long time. Even the best skier this season, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, was unable to beat him. The Norwegian was too aggressive and overran the course at some key points on the track.
The first to offer competition to the Austrian is his compatriot Matthias Mayer, one of the most consistent skiers on the World Cup circuit.
Three skiers later, it was “Jack” Crawford’s turn to storm the Chinese mountain. He was excellent, he negotiated the curves well, giving himself a lot of speed and above all he avoided the pitfalls in the middle of the course. He gave a more than acceptable performance with a time of 1:42.92. This time placed him provisionally in second place.
After him, it was around the Swiss watchmaker Beat Feuz to take the start. The four-time Crystal Globe winner in the discipline did not disappoint with a smooth performance. True to its reputation, it generated plenty of speed and held steady throughout the descent, even when it veered off somewhat mid-ride.
Crawford had therefore slipped to third place. No one was able to interfere on the podium, until the unexpected Johan Clarey gave the performance of his life. The Frenchman came in short of 0.10 seconds and offered himself the silver medal, thus depriving Crawford of a podium.
The Canadian had suffered somewhat the same fate during the Worlds in 2021, when he finished at the foot of the podium in the alpine combined.