(Spectators can catch the shuttle to the TELUS presents the Whistler World Cup Finish Area at Timing Flats. Please hop on board at the Gondola Transit Exchange or Creekside Base. Enjoy the races!)

GUAY FINISHES FOURTH IN MEN’S TELUS WHISTLER SUPER-G
Four Canadians in Top 15 as World Cup ski racing returns to Whistler

Erik Guay (Mont-Tremblant, QC) narrowly missed becoming the first Canadian male to be on a World Cup podium in Whistler, BC since Rob Boyd’s dramatic downhill win in 1989, finishing in a tie for fourth in today’s TELUS Whistler Super-G.

Guay powered down the Dave Murray Downhill course in a time of one minute 26.89 seconds, to miss the podium by just 0.18s as ski racing returned to Whistler for the first time since 1995.

“I’ve been there before and the last couple times I haven’t been too affected by it but I’m getting a little tired of finishing fourth place,” said Guay, who has two fifth place finishes this season in the super G. “It was meant to be I guess.”

“On this particular race I know exactly where I lost it. I was a little too round in the middle, I could feel it. I was able to make the correction and get back on line and ski aggressively towards the bottom but it was already too late by then,” said Guay, a 26-year-old World Cup downhill champion.

“To win a World Cup you’ve got to be perfect from start to finish,” he added.

Austria’s Christoph Gruber was nearly perfect from start to finish, winning in a time of 1:26.60. His teammate, and in fact his roommate, Hannes Reichelt placed second just 0.03s back with Slovenian Ales Gorza finishing third to earn his first World Cup podium in 95 career starts.

It was a very successful day for Canadians with four in the top 15, including François Bourque (New Richmond, QC) who was 13th

“There are only three spots on the podium and everything needs to be right to be there,” Bourque said. “When you’re on [the podium] everything is fine but when you’re not you have to find the little things that are missing to get on (the podium).”

Robbie Dixon (Whistler, BC) had the second best World Cup result of his career, finishing 14th on his home ski hill. World Cup super G champion John Kucera (Calgary, AB) followed closely behind in 15th with Manuel Osborne-Paradis (Vancouver, BC) a SG career-best 21st.

“The team has been doing really well this year. They’re having consistent top 10, top 15 results and I know that our main goal is to be on the podium, so it is a disappointment obviously. You’re on your home hill and you want to be in the top 3,” said Dixon, who came sixth at a World Cup super G in Kitzbühel, AUT in January.

“It’s pretty nice that you guys waited for 55 because most of the time I’m coming down in super G and I have to dodge the podium in the finish area. So this is a nice treat,” joked a delighted Osborne-Paradis in the finish.

“I’m in contention for top 10 and that’s what I’m going to focus on now,” added Osborne-Paradis a little more seriously.

As for the other Canadians, Patrick Wright (Oakville, ON) was 41st and Jeffrey Frisch (Mont-Tremblant, QC) finished in 47th.

Please note the start time for tomorrow’s Ladies TELUS Whistler Downhill has been pushed up to 10:15 a.m. PT. Rogers Sportsnet will have television coverage beginning at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT.

WHISTLER, BC – FEB. 21st, 2008 – SUPER G – MEN

For complete results click here...

FLASH QUOTES

Erik Guay (Mont-Tremblant, QC) 4th place

On the course:

“I think this is the toughest super G in the world. The course is tough, the snow is tough, the setting is tough. There is not much flats on the way down so it’s challenging and a lot of fun.”

“It held up amazing today, it’s been a pretty fair race for the top 30 I think.”

On the event:

“I think it’s an advantage not to get a World Cup downhill here. We’re going to be able to train on this hill in the spring and for once, the Canadians are going to have the advantage over the rest of the world.”

François Bourque (New Richmond, QC) 13th place

On the course:

“It was more challenging then I thought it would be. It’s a lot of blind gates, a lot of terrain. The snow was pretty good because I had an early number but I think it was even for everybody. It’s a great place to race when the weather is nice.”

On his performance:

“It was a good day, I had some mistakes but in general I think I was going for it and I think I had some pretty good sections. I’m positive for tomorrow.”

On the team’s performance:

“Last year we had 13 medals and this year I think we have around 10. The ladies did there part pretty well this year. We’re still a pretty young team. For sure we had a good season and we always want to build up on that but I think in general the team’s doing well again.”

John Kucera (Calgary, AB) 15th place

On the course:

“The hill is great and I know it pretty well. Today we got lucky with the weather. It froze over night and the track was in amazing condition. I love it here. I didn’t ski as well as I needed to up top. I lost almost eight tenth’s at the second interval but from there on down I skied the bottom part well and now I know what I need to do to be successful here.”

On the event:

“I enjoy racing at home. I don’t feel extra pressure I just like the feeling of racing in front of family and friends. It feels like being a young racer again and it kinda takes the stress of the whole World Cup thing away.”

On his performance:

“I skied a little bit too round, maybe a bit too tentative.”

2008 TELUS PRESENTS THE WHISTLER WORLD CUP

BROADCAST SCHEDULE

* The TELUS Whistler Men’s Giant Slalom races on Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 can be seen on TSN at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. ET.

** Subject to change

ABOUT TELUS
TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $9.0 billion of annual revenue and 11.0 million customer connections including 5.4 million wireless subscribers, 4.4 million wireline network access lines and 1.2 million Internet subscribers. TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, entertainment and video. Committed to being Canada’s premier corporate citizen, we give where we live. Since 2000, TELUS and our team members have contributed more than $91 million to charitable and non-profit organizations and volunteered more than 1.7 million hours of service to local communities. Eight TELUS Community Boards across Canada lead our local philanthropic initiatives. For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com

ABOUT ALPINE CANADA ALPIN
Alpine Canada Alpin (ACA) is the governing body for alpine ski racing in Canada with more than 50,000 athletes, coaches, officials and volunteer members and over 200,000 supporting members. ACA manages the high performance programs for the athletes of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team and the Canadian Para-Alpine Ski Team who represent Canada throughout the world. For more information on Alpine Canada Alpin, visit www.canski.org.