By james art 
Associated Pres
Kitzbuhel, Austria – James Crawford became the first Canadian skier in 42 years to win the prestigious descent from the World Cup on the Straif run, sharing the podium with his third teammate Cameron Alexander on Saturday.
Wearing a breastplate # 20 and descending after all the favorites before the race ended their running, Crowford stunned the field with attacking running on one of the most challenging tracks of the track.
He replaced the then leader Alexis Monni to the second position to deprive the dominant Swiss team of another victory.
“It’s definitely incredible. It was my dream to win classic competitions,” Crawford said. “I think the way of thinking and the approach I brought were good. This allowed me to be at maximum speed from top to bottom. “
Alexander’s mileage 15 minutes earlier inspired Crawford for his victory.
“Kam and I go back and forth all the time of training and competitions,” Crawford said. “When I saw him push and ski this way to the top, it somehow lit me a little. I thought, “I know I can beat this person so let’s do it today.”
In front of 45,000 spectators, Monni led as a fourth start-up and Swiss skier seemed ready for his second career victory, weeks after triumphing in Bourmio on the descent route, which would be used for the Milan-Cortina Olympics next year. Alexander also finished third in this race.
But Crawford, the World Super G champion, beat Moni with only 0.08 seconds for the Canadian’s first World Cup career. Alexander fell back 0.22 in third place, and Austrian Daniel Hemetsberger fell 0.43 in fourth place.
“I showed speed in the descent before and I have the feeling that I have been trying to get back to the maximum speed for a while,” Crawford said. “I have no words to describe emotions. It’s just amazing, and doing it in Kitzbuel is even better. “
Monnie admitted that it hurts to miss what would be the 12th victory of the Swiss ski team this season.
“A little, yes when you are ahead for so long. But this is also what makes ski racing so beautiful, “Monni said.
The last Canadian winner in the emblematic descent in Kitzbuel was Todd Broker in 1983, and the last time the two Canadian descent athlete shared a podium for the World Cup was in February 2012 when Yan Hudek won, and Erik Guei finished third in Chamoni, France.
The impressive result for the Canada team came 10 days before the start of the World Cup in another Austrian resort Zaalbah-Hintergim. Crawford in the Super-G and Alexander, who took bronze in the descent, won medals at the world in France two years ago.
The world champion in the descent and a three-time winner in the overall World Cup standings Marco Ondermate ended sixth, the day after the Swiss star triumphed in the Super-G.
“It was a solid race, not the best and with not the best race you can’t win Kitzbuel, the descent,” Odermat said. “It remains a big goal and a dream.”
Last year, in Kitzbuel Odermat, he finished second after Siprien Sarasen, the French skier, which was absent from the head injury surgery obtained during a descent training crash four weeks ago.
Sarazin said in a video on her social media channels late on Friday that he is recovering well but suffers from double vision.
Solom on Sunday ends the 85th edition of the classic Hannenkk competitions, which have a total prize pool of over $ 1 million.