Erik Guay

Erik Guay
— Alpine skier —

Guay in February 2011
Disciplines Downhill, super-G
Club Mont-Tremblant
Born (1981-08-05) August 5, 1981
Montreal, Québec, Canada
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
World Cup debut December 10, 2000
(age 19)
Website erikguay.com
Olympics
Teams 3 – (2006, 2010, 2014)
Medals 0
World Championships
Teams 6 – (2003–13)
Medals 1 (1 gold)
World Cup
Seasons 12th – (2003–14)
Wins 5 – (3 DH, 2 SG)
Podiums 22 – (16 DH, 6 SG)
Overall titles 0 – (12th in 2007)
Discipline titles 1 – (SG, 2010)
Medal record
Men's alpine skiing
Competitor for  Canada
World Championships
2011 Garmisch Downhill

Erik Guay (born August 5, 1981) is a World Cup alpine ski racer from Canada. Racing out of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Guay won the World Cup season title in super-G in 2010 and was the world champion in downhill in 2011. With 22 World Cup podiums, he is the career leader for Canada.[1]

Career

Born in Montreal,[2] Guay was five when he competed in his first ski race, and when he was twelve his father, himself a ski team coach, took him for professional coaching.[3]

His first podium came in November 2003, when he finished 2nd in a downhill at Lake Louise. He finished in second twice in 2005 in the super-G and third once in downhill. Guay suffered an injury two weeks before the 2006 Winter Olympics, and withdrew from the downhill but finished in fourth place in the super-G. He won his first World Cup race the following season at Garmisch, Germany.[4] He was the first Canadian to win a World Cup men's downhill race since 1994, and the first man ever from Québec. Guay's performance in alpine skiing over the 2007 season was enough to place him in third position in the final world cup standings.[5] In 2009, Guay achieved ten top-20 finishes in World Cup speed events but reached only one podium, a third.[5]

The 2010 Winter Olympics took place on home soil for Guay and he competed at in three events in Whistler, where he narrowly missed the podium finishing in fifth place twice.[6] Following the games, he achieved three straight podiums during March, including wins in the last two super-G races of the season, which enabled him to come from behind to win the discipline trophy in super-G in 2010 Alpine Skiing World Cup.[7] Guay became the first Canadian man to win a crystal globe for a discipline title since Steve Podborski in 1982.[6]

Guay struggled with back issues during the 2011 season, forcing him to miss events at both Kitzbühel and Wengen. During the 2011 World Championships at Garmisch, Guay won the downhill after not finishing the super-G earlier in the week. The win was Guay's only World Championship medal, and the second consecutive Canadian to win the world title in downhill, following John Kucera in 2009.

Guay continued to find the podium during the 2014 season. His victory at Val Gardena in December was his fourth and the twentieth World Cup podium of his career,[8] tying him with Steve Podborski as Canada's all-time leader. A week later he took third at Bormio to take the career lead.[1][9] This boosted Guay's hopes of achieving his dream of winning an Olympic medal. Going into Sochi, Guay stated, "I won't be satisfied if I don't walk away with a medal."[1] An injury though threatened his ability to perform at his peak after suffering a slight meniscus tear earlier in January.[1] He finished tenth in the downhill and missed a late gate in the super-G and was disqualified. The following week, he won a downhill at Kvitfjell, Norway.[10]

Personal

Guay and his wife Karen have two daughters: Logann Elizabeth Guay (b. 2009) and Leni Charlotte Guay (b. 2012).[3] They live in Mont-Tremblant.

World Cup results

Season titles

Season Discipline
2010 Super-G

Season standings

Season Age Overall Slalom Giant
slalom 		Super-G Downhill Combined
2003 21 79 — — 32 37 —
2004 22 55 — — 24 28 —
2005 23 25 — — 15 14 19
2006 24 18 — 47 6 11 —
2007 25 12 — 49 10 3 —
2008 26 18 — 41 6 12 —
2009 27 22 — — 12 6 —
2010 28 13 — — 1 13 —
2011 29 26 — — 13 14 —
2012 30 19 — — 12 7 —
2013 31 18 — — 11 6 —
2014 32 13 — — 21 3 —

Race podiums

Season Date Location Discipline Place
2004 29 Nov 2003 Lake Louise, Canada Downhill 2nd
2006 1 Dec 2005 Beaver Creek, USA Super-G 2nd
16 Dec 2005 Val Gardena, Italy Super-G 2nd
17 Dec 2005 Downhill 3rd
2007 20 Jan 2007 Val d'Isère, France Downhill 2nd
23 Feb 2007 Garmisch, Germany Downhill 3rd
24 Feb 2007 Downhill 1st
10 Mar 2007 Kvitfjell, Norway Downhill 2nd
15 Mar 2007 Lenzerheide, Switzerland Super-G 3rd
2009 5 Dec 2008 Beaver Creek, USA Downhill 3rd
2010 7 Mar 2010 Kvitfjell, Norway Super-G1st
10 Mar 2010 Garmisch, Germany Downhill 3rd
11 Mar 2010 Super-G 1st
201117 Dec 2010 Val Gardena, Italy Super-G 3rd
11 Mar 2011 Kvitfjell, Norway Downhill 2nd
2012 28 Jan 2012 Garmisch, Germany Downhill 2nd
4 Feb 2012 Chamonix, France Downhill 3rd
2013 15 Dec 2012 Val Gardena, Italy Downhill 3rd
26 Jan 2013 Kitzbühel, Austria Downhill 2nd
2014 21 Dec 2013 Val Gardena, Italy Downhill 1st
29 Dec 2013 Bormio, Italy Downhill 3rd
1 Mar 2014 Kvitfjell, Norway Downhill 1st

World Championship results

  Year    Age   Slalom   Giant 
 slalom  		Super-G Downhill Combined
2003 21 — — 6 6 17
2005 23 — — 19 22 DNS
2007 25 — — 6 4 —
2009 27 — — 19 DNF —
2011 29 — — DNF 1 —
2013 31 — — 23 DSQ —

Olympic results

  Year    Age   Slalom  Giant
 slalom  		Super-G Downhill Combined
2006 24 — — 4 — —
2010 28 — 16 5 5 —
2014 32 — — DSQ 10 —

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Reguly, Eric (January 30, 2014). "Erik Guay obsessed with closing the gap". The Globe and Mail.
  2. ↑ Wolfe, Cory (February 10, 2006). "Downhillers plan to attack course", Calgary Herald, p. E1.
  3. 1 2 http://www.erikguay.com/#/en/about.html
  4. ↑ Erik Guay at the International Ski Federation
  5. 1 2 http://www.erikguay.com/#/en/competition.html
  6. 1 2 Kingston, Gary (2010-03-11). "Canada’s Erik Guay ‘completely ecstatic’ winning season’s World Cup super G title". The Vancouver Sun.
  7. ↑ "Guay Continues His Late Surge to Seize the Super-G World Cup". The New York Times. Associated Press. 2010-03-11. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
  8. ↑ McKee, Hank (December 21, 2013). "Alliance pays off for Canadians and Norwegians; Guay wins Val Gardena". Ski Racing. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  9. ↑ McKee, Hank (December 29, 2013). "Svindal bests Bormio downhill". Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  10. ↑ McKee, Hank (March 1, 2014). "Guay wins Kvitfjell downhill with Ganong fourth". Ski Racing. Retrieved March 1, 2014.

External links

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