ALPINE:

Hard-charging Cousineau: Slalom podium is coming

Feb. 20, 2011 — Alpine Canada  

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany — Canada's Julien Cousineau came agonizingly close to the podium Sunday, finishing fifth in the slalom on the final day of the World Championships at Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Cousineau, of Lachute, Que., typified the aggressive approach of the Canadian team's technical skiers by charging hard on his second run. It very nearly resulted in a top-three finish for the 30-year-old, who had the second-fastest second run of the day on a deteriorating track and was lying third with two skiers to go. Ultimately, both men had faster combined times and Cousineau wound up fifth.

"I wish I had been on the podium but I'm satisfied," said Cousineau, whose career-best result prior to Sunday was two fifth-place finishes on the World Cup circuit.

"I'm starting to get tired of being fifth," he added, laughing. "I want to get on the podium. I can't wait. I know it's coming — I've just got to keep doing what I'm doing."

The day began in disappointing fashion for Canada when Whistler's Michael Janyk, who was third in the slalom at the 2009 World Championships at Val d'Isere, France, straddled a gate during his first run and didn't finish. At the time, his splits showed he was ahead of eventual winner Jean-Baptiste Grange of France.

"I knew the way I was skiing I was on the limit," said Janyk. "You always say it's better to ski fast and ski out than come out slowly. It's true but it still hurts. I had the fast split up there. That's the one thing I can take away from it is that the speed was there.

"But we have a really strong team and Cousi had a really, really strong fifth place. It's positive for the team that we can do that. Now we just need a podium."

Head coach Paul Kristofic said Janyk had been fast in training and started his first run the same way.

"He had really good speed," said Kristofic. "He executed well but had bad luck with the straddle."

Cousineau was lying 13th after his first run and decided to change his approach.

"I wasn't really happy with the way I skied. I held back too much," said Cousineau of his first run. "Second run I was like, 'I didn't come here to ski 10th or 13th or 15th, I came here to be on the podium or close to it.' I achieved that."

What followed was an agonizing wait for Cousineau, who had started the second run in the middle of the pack and remained in a podium position as he watched many of the skiers who went after him struggle or ski out.

"At first I wasn't so sure but as the race progressed it seemed like things were looking up," said Cousineau, who clocked a combined time of 1 minute, 42.59 seconds. "It was a good second run."

France's Grange, the first run leader, made some mistakes on his second run but had enough of a cushion to hold on and win with a combined time of 1:41.72. Jens Byggmark of Sweden was second in 1:42.15 and Italy's Manfred Moelgg was third with a time of 1:42.33.

Calgary's Trevor White was 20th after laying down a solid second run and finishing with a combined time of 1:44.42. Brad Spence, also of Calgary, was skiing aggressively on his second run when he leaned in on a turn and went down. He hiked back up to finish the race and was 38th in 1:56.75.

"The guys had really good sections on the first run but were slow on the bottom," said Kristofic. "The second run didn't go well for Brad, but he had been skiing pretty well. And Cousi - it was probably one of his best runs he's had."

The slalom was the final event of the World Championships, which featured a historic gold medal for Canada's Erik Guay in the men's downhill. Guay became the first Canadian male skier to win both a world championship and a crystal globe, which he claimed as the best overall skier in super-G last season.

"Obviously it was great to have a win," said Kristofic. "We knew coming in that the slalom was the next event where we could contend for medals. I think we came pretty close.

"We didn't quite come through, which was a little bit disappointing, but at the same time, for the most part I feel satisfied."