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Erik Guay satisfied with career despite absence of Olympic success

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CALGARY

No one could blame Erik Guay for feeling a tad exasperated with the line of questioning that greets him at every media event and at the finish line of virtually every World Cup race.

Sure, the Montrealer is Canada’s most decorated alpine skier in history with 23 World Cup medals to his name. And sure, he won a world downhill championship (in 2011) and the World Cup overall title in super-G (in 2010).

But there’s that one hole on the resume that never ceases to creep into conversation.

“It doesn’t really bother me,” Guay says with a chuckle. “I know the reality is whether I bring an Olympic medal back or not I’m going to be satisfied with my career.

“I think I’ve had a very good, long career.”

Known for his steady, calm demeanour, Guay refuses to be defined by two near misses on the Olympic stage. He lost out on the bronze by a mere tenth of a second in the super-G at the 2006 Turin Winter Games. Four years later in Vancouver, he posted a pair of agonizing fifth-place finishes on home snow.

The super-G race proved particularly heartbreaking, with the Canadian stopping the clock just three hundredths of a second back of bronze and six hundredths away from silver.

One more chance at Olympic glory looms at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

“It would be fun to finish off on that high note, but it’s not the end-all, be-all for me,” he says. ”I’m focused for the moment on other things.

“The Olympics are two years away, so I’m really not there yet.”

At 35, Guay has more than two decades of wear and tear on his body from ripping down cragged mountainsides at speeds of 160 km/h. In fact, he’s a regular in the operating room with six surgeries documented in his voluminous medical chart.

But heading into the 2016-17 World Cup season, Guay says he feels better than he has in years thanks to a summer with more time in the gym and on the ski hill than on the therapy table.

Talk about a welcome change.

“I’m happy with my preparation,” he says. “I’m really motivated and looking forward to seeing how it kicks off in Lake Louise.”

The World Cup speed circuits opens on Nov. 26 on a Lake Louise course that has troubled Guay over the years.

“It’s hit or miss,” Guay says of the only Canadian stop on tour. “I have one podium at Lake Louise in my whole career. Lots of fourth, fifth and top-10 finishes. But for whatever reason, I’ve always had a hard time figuring out how to step on the podium.”

His dream podium -- contrary to what the general public thinks given the fascination with all things Olympic -- is actually in Kitzbuhel, Austria on the famed Hahnenkamm mountain.

Guay won downhill silver on the prestigious course in 2013, but he’s still gunning for gold.

“Kitzbuhel is the Super Bowl of ski racing,” Guay says. “It’s the most challenging run by far. The fact that it is there year in and year out makes it more competitive. People spend a lot of time analyzing the hill and seeing what it’s all about.

“In contrast to the Olympics, you do the course once before the games and then you go there once for the Olympic Games. Anything can happen in that sort of situation.”

In a different way, anything can also happen in Kitzbuhel given the sheer danger of the course. In the 2016 event, World Cup leader Aksel Lund Svindal tore his knee in a race was called after 30 competitors for safety reasons.

“It is terrifying,” Guay says. “You have to get into a good mental place before you start if you want to be competitive there. You have to be willing to risk everything and you have to pay the sacrifice of crashing and potentially hurting yourself.”

And so in spite of the void on his resume, Guay has no intention of playing it safe until Pyeongchang. In his mind, every day and every race counts -- not just the ones at the five-ring circus.

“Eric never looks bad,” says his teammate, Dustin Cook. “He’s just such a solid, consistent skier. He’s just so solid and so strong. He’s such a technically good skier.

“He’s always in there. He might not win every race, but he’s always competitive.”

GUAY GIVES ADVICE

Erik Guay has some advice for rising star Dustin Cook as he embarks on a comeback from the first major injury of his career.

Guay has undergone surgery six times, so he knows a thing or two about the challenges facing Cook in his return from a torn right anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament.

“Be patient,” Guay says. “When you really hurt yourself in a crash, it’s tough to get back to that race pace where you feel you can challenge yourself to push everything and let it all hang out.

“For whatever reason, I think your psyche holds you back a little bit.”

Cook, a silver medallist in super-G at the 2015 world championships, shook off the rust last weekend in a World Cup giant slalom race and did not advance to the second run.

That won’t stop the 27-year-old Ottawa native from gunning for the podium next month at the World Cup speed opener in Lake Louise.

“Literally I don’t think about the knee at all,” Cook says. “It feels so good. It’s like it never happened.”

vhall@postmedia.com

twitter.com/vickihallch

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