Canada's Cameron Alexander captures bronze at World Cup downhill in Italy
Fellow Canadian Valère Grenier narrowly misses podium at women's GS in Austria
Canada's Cameron Alexander won bronze in the men's downhill race on Thursday in Bormio, Italy.
Alexander, who also took third at last year's world championships, finished 1.23 seconds behind France's Cyprien Sarrazin (one minute 50.73 seconds), who used a gutsy run to edge out Switzerland's Marco Odermatt by less than a tenth of a second for gold.
Sarrazin's victory marks the first downhill triumph for the French team in eight years.
Alexander, the 26-year-old from North Vancouver, B.C., earned his second career World Cup medal after winning a downhill in Norway last season. He's now placed top-10 in three of his four races this season.
"It feels really good to be able to get a podium on a track like this," Alexander said. "This track is such a battle and a fight the whole way down [so] it's rewarding to stand on the podium here."
WATCH | Alexander discusses bronze medal:
Toronto's Jack Crawford placed eighth at 1:53.09.
Meanwhile, Valèrie Grenier of St. Isidore, Ont., narrowly missed the podium at a women's giant slalom event in Lienz, Austria, where she placed fourth with a time of 2:06.43.
Mikaela Shiffrin held on to a big first-run lead to win amid tough course conditions for the American's record-extending 92nd career victory.
"Fourth place stings a little because you are so close to the podium, but it was a good day," said Grenier.
WATCH | Shiffrin claims victory in Austria:
Shiffrin lost most of her advantage as she skied a rather conservative final run, posting only the 17th fastest time. But it was enough to beat Federica Brignone by 0.38 seconds, a result that sent the Italian to the top of the discipline standings.
Sara Hector, the Olympic GS champion from Sweden, dropped from second after the opening run to third, trailing Shiffrin by 0.45.
Grenier was 0.63 seconds behind Shiffrin after posting the third-fastest final run.
"I struggled on the first run like a lot of people, but I am very happy with my second run," Grenier said. "It was a super fun run. I was really going for it and it felt good to be in the leader's chair for a bit. I'm feeling confident in my skiing the last few months, I feel that I can recover from my mistakes and that confidence is helping me be consistent."
Sarrazin enthusiastic at finish line
Sarrazin earned his second World Cup victory, seven years after winning a parallel giant slalom. The last French downhill winner was Adrien Theaux, who triumphed at another Italian venue, Santa Catarina, in December 2015.
"Finally, I did a great run from the first gate to the finish line," said Sarrazin, who screamed "whoo-hoo" and stuck his tongue out after finishing.
"I felt so great and I pushed all along, I think it's crazy. When I crossed the finish line, I said: 'Yes, you did your job.' It's perfect," the Frenchman said.
Thursday's race was overshadowed by a crash from overall World Cup leader Marco Schwarz. The Austrian appeared to hurt his right knee in a left turn before getting thrown off the course halfway through his run. He was taken off the hill by a helicopter.
The Austrian Ski Federation said on X, formerly Twitter, that Schwarz tore his ligaments and the inside meniscus, and bruised a bone, adding that he "has to end the season prematurely."
Odermatt earned his 11th career downhill podium, but came up a few hundredths short once more of a first victory in the discipline.
"It was the perfect run, it was how I wanted to race, extremely to the limit — but one guy was faster," said Odermatt, adding that he lost the race in the last section where Sarrazin was 0.23 seconds faster.
Last season's World Cup downhill champion Aleksander Aamodt Kilde quit his run after his ski hit a rock and got damaged.
Other racers struggled as well as the Stelvio lived up its billing as one of the toughest downhill courses. A super-G on the same hill is scheduled for Friday.
WATCH | A look back at the year in sports:
Shiffrin finds the balance
Shiffrin's victory was the 22nd in GS of her career, but first this season.
"The second run was great skiing with a little bit more space," said Shiffrin, who lost 1.25 seconds on Brignone in that final run. Federica, a few more gates and she would have probably taken it. So, that's the next thing to learn for the coming races: you have to push in the second run."
The American is third in the discipline standings, 80 points behind leader Brignone and 45 behind Lara Gut-Behrami. The Swiss skier finished sixth Thursday.
"I was like, now I want to win it but I also really don't want to mess it up, that would be so disappointing. So, it was a little back and forth in my thoughts," Shiffrin said about trying to maintain her first-run lead. "Every [GS] race, I feel more comfortable and I think I have a really good focus with my skiing that can be simple. I can hopefully repeat it more and more races, so I'm super happy with the progress."
WATCH | Shiffrin builds massive lead in 1st run:
The American found the right balance between control and attack on the Schlossberg course, where a variation of grippy snow and icy spots caused problems for many racers.
"I know from the experience that you have to be really aggressive on this hill, but it's quite challenging with the darkness and quite a lot of terrain," said Shiffrin, who also won the GS in the Austrian Dolomites in 2019.
Four years ago, Shiffrin also won a slalom on the same hill the following day. A slalom is scheduled for Friday, with live coverage beginning on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem at 4 a.m. ET.
With files from CBC Sports
