Canada’s James Crawford won the bronze medal in the men’s alpine combined skiing event at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Thursday.
Crawford had the second-fastest time in the downhill section, barely behind Austria’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, setting the Toronto native up for success in the slalom section.
The Canadian was still just a fraction of a second behind Kilde, who took the silver after Austria’s Johannes Strolz stormed into the gold medal position.
The three managed to hang on to their spots as the rest of the pack made their way down the mountain.
Crawford finished fourth in Monday’s downhill race and sixth in the super-G on Tuesday, watching as skiers who started later bump him from medal contention.
“I’ve been searching for a podium so long,” the fresh-faced skier told reporters, proudly wearing his medal next to the slalom finish line in the Xiaohaituo mountains.
“I kept feeling it was right around the corner.”
Believing it could be bringing him bad luck, Crawford shaved his moustache for the combined competition on Thursday.
“I honestly shaved it because I felt it wasn’t getting me on the podium. It was a little bit of a juju thing. Maybe it was the reason, maybe not. I definitely look a lot younger!”
Fellow Canadians Broderick Thompson and Brodie Seger finished eighth and ninth, respectively, while Trevor Philp skied out on the slalom course after a 19th-place finish in the downhill.
— with files from Reuters.
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