THE CANADIAN PRESS
WHISTLER, B.C. — For Christoph Gruber a World Cup super-giant slalom win on the course that will host the 2010 Winter Olympics Games was reason to celebrate Thursday.
For Erik Guay, finishing fourth was something to lament.
"It sucks," snorted Guay, from Mont-Tremblant, Que., who tied with Italy’s Patrick Staudacher, the Olympic super-G gold medallist. "I’m a little bit bitter and a little bit mad about it."
Gruber led a 1-2 Austrian finish on an Olympic track that received rave reviews from the men.
"It’s one of the best super-G courses we have in the World Cup," said Gruber, who sliced down the 2.2-kilometre Dave Murray course in one minute 26.60 seconds. "You have to work from the start to the finish.
"It’s a good feeling to win here. Hopefully I am here at the Olympics in two years."
Gruber’s teammate Hannes Reichelt placed second in 1:26.63. Ales Gorza of Slovenia was third in 1:26.71 to earn his first podium in 95 World Cup races.
Guay finished 18-100ths off the podium in a time of 1:26.89. It’s his second fourth-place finish this season to go with similar placings at the world championships and Olympics.
"I’m getting a little tired of finishing fourth and fifth," he said. "Here in Whistler it would have been fun, two years before the Olympics, to get on the podium. It wasn’t meant to be I guess."
Canada placed four skiers in the top 15. But Guay said that isn’t good enough for a team that had 12 podium finishes last season.
"The average Canadian wants to see podiums," said Guay, who hasn’t finished in the top three this season after five podiums last year. "Fourth place just isn’t good enough anymore.
"Every year we have been stepping it up, we’ve been getting more podiums, more results people want to see. To finish fourth, and get four guys in the top 15, I don’t think is enough any more. We need those podium finishes. We need to be trying to motivate ourselves and get those extra positions."
The race was held under a warm sun and bright, blue skies. A crowd of about 2,000 in the finish line watched the first World Cup race to be held in Whistler since 1995.
The win was the fifth of Gruber’s career, but the first since 2006. He is tied with Reichelt for second place in the World Cup super-G standings with 225 points.
Switzerland’s Didier Cuche, who was eighth, leads the standings with 280 points after five races.
Gruber said he won the race on the lower section of the course.
"I carried the speed the whole course, especially in the last few gates," he said. "I picked up a little bit of time in the lower parts."
The race was the first official sports test event for the 2010 Games and skiers were unanimous in their approval of the course.
"It’s fantastic," said Marco Buechel of Liechtenstein, who won last month’s super-G in Kitzbuehel. "It has a lot of terrain, a lot of turns, rolls, flat parts, steep parts.
"I think the one who wins the Olympic Games here is a true champion."
The track claimed it’s victims. Italy’s Peter Fill had a spectacular face-first crash but wasn’t hurt. Both Bode Miller of the U.S. and Austria’s Hermann Maier, the 1998 Olympic super-G champion, also failed to finish.
"There is a lot of terrain," said Miller, who hurt his left wrist when slapped by a gate. "It looks good from the little bit I saw of it."
Maier called the course interesting.
"I like this course," he said. "It’s small and it’s very interesting."
Guay also was impressed.
"I was talking to the guys and I think this is probably the toughest super-G in the world," he said. "The course was tough. The setting is tough. It’s challenging and it should be a lot of fun, if it’s sunny in 2010."
The men have a giant slalom here on Saturday, then don’t race again in Whistler until the Olympics.
"It would be good if we had a downhill too on this slope," said Gruber. "I think the downhill is very difficult."
Guay likes the idea that the downhill will remain a mystery.
"I think it’s an advantage," he said. "We are going to be able to train on this hill in the spring. For once the Canadians are going to have an advantage over the rest of the world."
Francois Bourque of New Richmond, Que., was 13th in 1:27.39, Robbie Dixon of North Vancouver, B.C., 14th in 1:27.47 and John Kucera of Calgary 15th in 1:27.53.
Kucera, who won a super-G race in Lake Louise, Alta., last season, said he can do better at the Olympics.
"I didn’t ski as well I needed to up top," he said. "Going into 2010 I know where I need to ski better to be successful here."
Among other Canadians, Manuel Osborne-Paradis of North Vancouver was 21st in 1:28.12; Patrick Wright of Oakville, Ont., 41st in 1:28.93 and Jeffrey Frisch of Mont-Tremblant, 47th in 1:29.11
The Vancouver Olympic Games Organizing Committee (VANOC) spent $27.6 million upgrading the Creekside facility for the Olympics. Getting the race off was important for Olympics organizers since it was the first successful World Cup event in Whistler since 1995.
The International Ski Federation (FIS) abandoned Whistler as a World Cup stop in 1998 after three consecutive years of races being cancelled due to adverse snow and weather conditions. Organizers had tried to stage those races before Christmas.
The women will race a downhill on Friday and a super-combined — a super-giant slalom and slalom — Sunda