Calgary’s Hudec wins bronze in Olympic super-G
Posted February 16, 2014 6:54 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Calgary’s Jan Hudec won bronze for Canada in the men’s super-G on Sunday at the Sochi Olympics.
Kjetil Jansrud won the fourth straight Olympic super-G gold medal for Norway in one minute, 18.14 seconds to help his country maintain its dominance in the Olympic event.
Starting 29th, Andrew Weibrecht of the United States flew down the hill and wound up second, 0.30 seconds behind.
Hudec tied with American veteran Bode Miller for third in 1:18.67.
Morgan Pridy of Whistler, B.C., was the sixth skier to go down the hill and was the early leader. His time of 1:19.19 eventually put him in 10th.
Manuel Osborne-Paradis of Ivermere, B.C., tied for 24th in 1:20.19, while Erik Guay of Mont-Tremblant, Que., was disqualified.
Miller is the oldest Alpine skier to medal at 36. This was Miller’s sixth Olympic medal, moving him two behind the all-time Alpine leader Kjetil Andre Aamodt.
Norway has long ruled this Olympic discipline, with Aamodt winning in 2002 and ’06, and Aksel Lund Svindal in 2010. Svindal struggled on Sunday and finished seventh place.
Weibrecht won the bronze in the super-G in 2010, but has been besieged by injuries ever since. He’s never even been on the podium in a World Cup race.
“It’s unbelievable. I came down and knew I skied well. I knew I had a good run,” Weibrecht said. “I came through the finish and appreciated my run. Then I took a couple of seconds and looked at the time, I saw two and looked away. I looked again and was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.'”
Miller wasn’t surprised. He half expected Weibrecht to make a charge, even with the course running quite a bit slower at the bottom.
“With Andrew at the start, I was like, ‘There’s a good chance he wins this run right now,'” said Miller, who captured silver in the super-G in Vancouver. “To be on the podium, it’s a really big day for me. Emotionally, I had a lot riding on it. I’m super, super happy.”
Miller surpassed one of Aamodt’s marks, though, becoming the oldest skier to capture a medal. Aamodt was just over 34 when he won in 2006.
It’s been a big Olympics for Jansrud, who also won bronze in the downhill.
