Alpine Skiing

Packing up their skis and going home was the right cure for Canada's alpine skiing malaise.

Manuel Osborne-Paradis of captured his first career World Cup downhill race in Kvitfjell, Norway Friday, after taking time with his teammates to step out of the World Cup's White Circus and spend a week training on the Dave Murray Olympic downhill run in Whistler, B.C.

It was the fourth podium of the season for the Canadian World Cup schussers and the fifth career podium placement for Osborne-Paradis, 25.

He led a quartet of Canadian speed skiers into the top-10 of Friday's downhill. The North Vancouver, B.C., native raced to a gold medal on the Olympiabakken course in 1 minute 47.09 seconds, beating Austrian Michael Walchhofer by 0.31 seconds, a huge margin in a World Cup race. Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal, the 2007 over all champion, finished third in 1:47.09.

Osborne-Paradis' best World Cup showing prior to Friday's victory was a silver-medal performance at Lake Louise, Alta., in 2007. He has five career podium performances on the World Cup. But the significance of a win was immediate. He'd joined the ranks of Erik Guay and John Kucera and historic winners like Ken Read and Steve Podborksi.

"It's great to have podiums, but once you've got your first gold, you realize nobody give a [ care] ‘til you win," Osborne-Paradis said.

He crashed when competing at Kvitfjell's Olympic run for first time four years ago, but nevertheless remained a fan of the course and got some of that affection repaid by Kvitfjell. Osborne-Paradis covered the Olympiabakken course, built for the 1994 Winter Olympics, in 1 minute, 47.09 seconds. His previous best downhill result was a second-placed finish in 2007 at Lake Louise, Alberta.

"It's more of a relief, actually," Osborne-Paradis said, when asked how his win augured for a fast run at the Olympics next winter.

"I was skiing better than a I had all season, but I was getting bad breaks with the weather, or start places or the flu. It's a relief, because I knew I could be doing better, but I needed the chance."

Osborne-Paradis crashed when he skied Kvitfjell's Olympic course for first time in 2005, but he retains good memories of the Bernhard Russi-designed downhill. He's placed fourth and fifth at Kvitfjell in recent seasons.

"I've always like this course a lot," he said. "It has every aspect a downhill should have. It's got flats, steeps, really big hard turns, quick turns, big jumps. It really does have everything."

That, he said, put Kvitfjell in a league with the 2010 Olympic course at Whistler, a hill whose profile he's known intimately since he picked rocks off the slopes as a kid in summer in order to earn a pass.

"It feels great to finally be able to step on the top of the podium," Osborne-Paradis said. "I didn't have the best top splits. It seems the middle was where I excelled the most... It's the kind of hill where you fight through some parts, then make up the margin to win on the parts where you can excel."

No other Canadian has won a downhill or a super-G at Kvitfjell. The only Canadians who made the podium were Ed Podivinsky (downhill) in 1997 and Erik Guay (downhill) in 2007.

"I love doing downhill. I love the whole aspect of downhill, from figuring out the course in training runs to competing."

Osborne-Paradis's victory continues the late-season surge by the Canadian Cowboys, who have picked up their performance level while the Canadian women had slipped since standing on seven podiums last season. Calgary's John Kucera, who won downhill gold at the 2009 world championship in Val d'Isere, France, last month.

Canada's three other top-10 finishes in Norway were: Robbie Dixon of North Vancouverm, fifth in 1:47.60; Kucera, seventh in 1:47.83, and Erik Guay of Mont-Tremblant, Que., 10th in 1:47.92. Pierre-Louis Helie, of Berthierville, Que., tied for 48th spot with Norway's Lars Elton Myhre in a time of 1:50.14.

The Canadian winner said he knew there were other big names to follow him once he'd done his run. "There was still Hermann (Maier) and Marco (Buechel) to go, and you never really want to watch," Osborbne-Paradis said. "I've been on the podium before, and one of them [the big names] has sneaked in front of me. It was great to sneak in front of them."

He said the opportunity to train last week was as vital as the fact it was at the Olympic site. The World Cup season is longer in the mind than it is on paper, with travel and long hours in hotel rooms, looking out at the hills and snow and wondering if a race will come off.

"I don't think it was the fact it was Whistler, so much as the fact we trained," Osborne-Paradis said. "Three weeks off the downhill, it's hard to come back into it. It's tough to get back, and especially to win."

He called it a classic downhill layout, as is Bormio, Italy and Whsitler. "They have every aspect," he said. "You have to ski that kind of course because it's the kind of course you'll have next year."

He said the togetherness of the Canadian team was growing and important. "It all snowballs back," he said. Guay and Francois Bourque helped him in the summer to improve his technical skiing for the giant slalom. Dixon, he said, pushed him to be faster. The win vaulted Dixon to fifth spot in the World Cup downhill standings.

Walchhofer edged closer to the downhill title, with two races remaining this season.

"It was a great race for me," Walchhofer said. "I'm very happy with my second place. It was very important to get 80 points."

Bode Miller of the United States, the defending overall champion, did not compete. Miller is skipping the rest of the World Cup season and has thrown into doubt whether he will try for the Vancouver Olympic team.