It was a tight race for the top-3, with only six one-hundredths of a second separating third place from first in Thursday's World Cup downhill training run at Lake Louise.
It was Austria's Michael Walchhofer who, once again, set the fastest time. Walchhofer finished the run in one minute, 44.10 seconds.
Hermann Maier finished in a time of one minute, 44.13 seconds, earning the second fastest time of the day, while American Bode Miller crossed the line in one minute, 44.16 seconds to finish third.
Wearing bib number 65, Francois Bourque of New Richmond, QC was the fastest Canadian racer in today's training run. With a time of one minute, 46.28 seconds, Bourque finished in 26th place and actually won the last interval of the race.
“I am very happy and I felt really good all the way down,” said Bourque. “I was more focused today and I am very confident for tomorrow's race.”
Erik Guay who finished 14th in yesterday's training run finished 33rd today with a time of one minute, 44.67 seconds.
Despite the slower speed Erik felt good about his performance today, “I felt better than yesterday and I feel I had a better run today. I focused more on what I had to improve and I attacked the course, but I was a little too much on my edges.”
Friday will see the third and final training run. The downhill race is scheduled for Saturday with the super-G taking place on Sunday.
Top-15
Training Run #2
1. WALCHHOFER Michael, AUT, 1:44.10; 2. MAIER Hermann, AUT, 1:44.13; 3.
MILLER Bode, USA, 1:44.16; 4. HOLZKNECHT Norbert, AUT, 1:44.33; 5. RHALVES Daron, USA, 1:44.79; 6. KJUS Lasse, NOR, 1:44.80; 7. KERNEN Bruno, SUI, 1:45.07; 8. FRANZ Werner, AUT, 1:45.17; 9. SULZENBACHER Kurt, ITA, 1:45.23; 10. DENERIAZ Antoince, FRA, 1:45.48; 11. SCHIFFERER Andreas, AUT, 1:45.51; 12. KNAUSS Hans, AUT, 1:45.60; 13. GRUGGER Johann, AUT, 1:45.65; 14. CUCHE Didier, SUI, 1:45.74; 15. JAERBYN Patrik, SWE, 1:45.75.
Canadian Results
26. BOURQUE Francois, New Richmond, QC, 1:46.28
32. HUDEC Jan, Calgary, AB, 1:46.65
33. GUAY Erik, Mont Tremblant, QC, 1:44.67
34. HUME Jeff, Whistler, BC, 1:46.88
37. LAVOIE Vincent, Longueuil, QC, 1:46.84
57. KUCERA John, Calgary, AB, 1:47.72
72. OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel, Invermere, BC, 1:48.65
Other Canadian Quotes
Erik Guay
“I approach every day as a new day and a good challenge. The top-20 is good goal for me because I have to be realistic after coming back from an injury.”
“The conditions were great today with hard snow and sunshine.”
“Physically I am 100% but I was definitely better prepared mentally today for the race.”
Manuel Osborne-Paradis
“I was nervous at the top but the course was better today. I made all the gates and I'm feeling more confident about tomorrow.”
“This course has more terrain and it's set harder than a lot of other World Cup downhill's but it's an excellent course.”
Jeff Hume
“Every aspect of the race was better than yesterday and I skied with aggression. It's my first downhill of the season, I stayed ahead of the course the whole way and I'm feeling really confident.”
John Kucera
“The wind caught me off the second jump and I made some costly errors that I hope to clean up for tomorrow.”
Jan Hudec
“The most exciting aspect of today's race was passing the top traverse that I crashed on yesterday.
Carving a nice turn is always great but carving a turn in the sunshine is what dreams are made of.”
Vincent Lavoie
“I waited ten minutes in the start because of course work but this was to my advantage as I was able to calm down and relax before racing.”
“This weekend I would like to be in the top-30 to get some points. It's fun to start the season in Canada.”