Breakout world championship results this year by Jack Crawford and Brodie Seger indicate the rebuild of the Canadian men鈥檚 downhill team may be accelerating.
Seger, 25, and Crawford, 24, see those results as a springboard into an Olympic Games season that starts with Friday鈥檚 World Cup downhill in Lake Louise, Alta.
A second downhill is Saturday followed by Sunday鈥檚 super-G.
The retirements of world champion Erik Guay and world championship medallists Manuel Osborne-Paradis and Dustin Cook in recent years gave way to a men鈥檚 downhill squad with an average age of 24 attempting those same heights.
Just four months apart in age, Toronto鈥檚 Crawford and Seger, from Whistler, B.C., are works in progress in downhill. They鈥檙e challenging the best skiers in the world in super-G with their technical talents, however.
鈥淛ack and I are kind of similar that way in that we鈥檝e always been slightly more technical speed skiers,鈥� Seger explained. 鈥淲e might struggle sometimes more on the glidier downhill courses, flatter terrain.鈥�
Racing with a metal plate in his reconstructed shoulder, Seger was fourth in super-G in February鈥檚 world championship in Cortina, Italy. The Canadian finished four hundredths of a second off the podium.
A super-G medal in Cortina, co-host of the 2026 Winter Games, was Crawford鈥檚 goal.
Thwarted in that bid, Crawford recovered by placing fourth the following day in alpine combined, which is the combined time of a super-G run and a slalom. He posted the fastest time in the super-G leg.
鈥淚t just gives us confidence,鈥� Crawford said. 鈥淚t shows us what we鈥檙e actually capable of.
鈥淎fter world champs, I definitely think Brodie feels the same way, coming fourth 鈥� it hurts a little bit, but when it comes to confidence, it really helps to show that we鈥檙e not that far away, and the podium is just around the corner.鈥�
Last year鈥檚 World Cup in Lake Louise was cancelled due to COVID-19, which denied Canada鈥檚 young skiers the chance to race on home snow.
Seger crashed and blew out his shoulder in the season鈥檚 first downhill in Val-d鈥橧sere, France.
A hook plate surgically implanted in his shoulder for stability made skiing and sleeping uncomfortable, but he was fixated on racing in Cortina.
鈥淗aving never been through that whole injury process before and getting back in the game, I was extremely determined more than anything to come back strong right off the bat,鈥� Seger said.
鈥淭hat return to racing was a huge learning experience. I was completely focused on what I needed to do to get back to that. I wasn鈥檛 in the middle of the season worrying about results, worrying about my ranking or anything like that. It was just one step at a time, what do I need to do in this rehab?鈥�
The first three super-G starters in Cortina didn鈥檛 cross the finish line. Drawing the No. 4 start bib, Crawford made it to the bottom and communicated intel up the mountain via radio to Seger with instructions on navigating the trickiest section.
鈥淚t was an extremely difficult position for him to be starting that early, being in that position for the first time really in his career and dealing with all sorts of chatter over the radio,鈥� Seger said.
鈥淭he report he was able to give back up to the rest of us after his run was key, and it definitely felt like a team effort that day.鈥�
Crawford says he felt more relaxed heading into the following day鈥檚 alpine combined.
鈥淚t was a scenario where my stress levels and everything was just low and I came in confident,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 just skied the way I had been in training leading into the races and that set me up for a pretty good day.鈥�
Men鈥檚 speed coach John Kucera, the 2009 world downhill champion, wants continued improvement out of both racers in super-G and downhill this season.
鈥淏rodie and Jack have good start positions in super-G, so that puts them in a position where they can be competitive,鈥� the Calgarian said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e a group now that鈥檚 targeting top-15, top-10 type results. We鈥檙e not here anymore just to sneak into the points. We do still need to scrap it out a little bit in downhill.鈥�
The Cortina course was unfamiliar to international racers, which will also be the case in next February鈥檚 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
鈥淲e鈥檙e all going to be going to China blind and then nobody鈥檚 really got the advantage in a sense,鈥� Kucera said. 鈥淲hen you have a young group, it鈥檚 almost better in some ways to kind of go in there with no expectations.
鈥淲e know it鈥檚 supposed to be a difficult and technical hill, which is something that also kind of plays more into our hand a little bit, rather than a big, open glide track.鈥�
Jeffrey Read of Canmore, Alta., Cameron Alexander of North Vancouver, B.C., and Broderick Thompson of Whistler, B.C., join Seger and Crawford on Friday鈥檚 start list in Lake Louise.
Veteran racer Ben Thomsen of Invermere, B.C., wasn鈥檛 named to the Alpine Canada鈥檚 squad this season, but will compete in downhill.
The third downhill training run Thursday was cancelled 鈥渢o preserve the conditions of the slope,鈥� FIS said.
Heavy snowfall began blanketing the ski resort in Banff National Park on Thursday with 25 centimetres predicted to accumulate by Friday.
鈥擠onna Spencer, The Canadian Press
