Osborne-Paradis strikes for Victory!
A year after his debut podium, Canadian Manuel Osborne-Paradis, managed to hold on for his second victory of the World Cup season. While many of the favoured stars failed to weather the winds and stuttered down the course, starting 9, Osborne-Paradis managed to better the time posted by Switzerland’s Ambrosi Hoffman who had equalled the time set by France’s Johan Clary, going two before him! It looked for a while as if the Austrian’s would be pushed off the podium for the second race in a row. None of their big guns, Walchhofer and Kroell especially had had especially good runs and it was left to Mario Scheiber to save face. It was Scheiber that Osborne-Paradis was worried about as his split times bounced around the Canadians time!
After a week of great weather and clear skies, a light covering of new snow and flat light greeted the opening European Downhill of the season. Cuche and Walchhofer, two of the big stars of the season so far, had won the training runs on Wednesday and Thursday respectively, yet it was the early numbers that made the best of the conditions. Patrik Jaerbyn made good use of the clear track to set a positive time and for a while this looked good. The course did not run as quick as it had in training due to the new snow.
First it was Johan Clary, France, who took the lead and then Hoffman who equalled it before the Canadian struck. Osborne-Paradis, while happy with his run in parts had felt that he had made a huge mistake at the top and that he felt his run was over. A race is never over until you reach the finish. Described by Aksel Lund Svindal as one of the funniest guys on the tour, Osborne-Paradis put his head down and attacked. By the time he got to the bottom he had wiped the smile off the joint leaders yet felt that he was not far enough in front to keep hold of the lead.
As racer after racer came down and failed to better his time, Osborne-Paradis was able to relax a little more. Buechel, Defago, Svindal, Kroell, Walchhofer and Cuche all failed to better the time. Neither could Heel or Miller. While Walchhofer (5th), Buechel (7th=), Miller (9th) and Cuche (10th) all packed into the top ten, at this level it is the win that counts.
It was the returning “Super” Mario Scheiber that caused the Canadian the most anxiety. He had watched the stars of the sport come down without a hint of worry, yet when the Austrian posted a faster first split and then stayed in touch, it was then that the Canadian feared for his lead, he admitted afterwards. In the end thirteen hundredths separated the two and this was win number two in the season for the Canadian while the Austrian, Scheiber, is still waiting for his first career win.
Many of the big guns had talked of the winds affecting their runs but with Scheiber coming down three after Miller, his result can be down to determination and fast skis! This was something that the Atomic supported racer thanked his serviceman for after the race. Scheiber has been out of the sport for the best part of the last two seasons and this result, coming after his fourth place in the Super G the day before, gave the Austrians their first podium of the Val Gardena races.
1. Manuel Osborne-Paradis (Can) 2:01.27
2. Mario Scheiber (Aut) 2:01.40
3. Ambrosi Hoffman (Sui) & Johna Clary (Fra) 2:01.52
55. Douglas Crawford (GBR) 2:05.92
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