A dejected Jan Hudec said he was disappointed with his 21st place finish in the men’s downhill on Sunday (Feb. 9) at the 2104 Sochi Winter Olympics, but said he’s confident he can reach the podium in the super-G on Feb. 16.
Hudec was the second skier down the treacherous Sochi course, but finished 2.23 behind Austria’s 23-year-old Matthias Mayer. The long, icy course took its toll on the veteran speed racer, and he took no solace in the fact the race is his best ever at the Olympics.
“Disappointing. Anti-climactic. We didn’t capitalize on the opportunity we had,” said Hudec shortly after the race. “The experience is good, but I’m not coming here for experience. I’m coming here for a medal.”
Considered an underdog going into the race due to the fact he herniated a disc in his back a month ago, Hudec said his legs were strong, but conceded he wasn’t on his game in the downhill. Canada has gone 20 years without a medal in the downhill, and much of the national pressure fell on Erik Guay, who was 10th.
“I knew I wasn’t completely ready to be fighting for the top spot. I knew I could be close if I put everything together, but going in, I thought (American skier Bode Miller) had this thing dialed,” Hudec said.
Miller was an early favourite after several strong training runs, but also faltered on the second half of the course.
Starting second should have helped Hudec on a course that was plagued by flat light, but
“It was pretty much the perfect start point for today. I needed to take advantage of it, and I didn’t.”
Invermere native and friend of the Bow Valley Ben Thomsen finished 19th, while Manuel Osborne-Paradis was 25th.
As he’s done so many times before in his career, Hudec put the result behind him and prepare for the super-G. He’s currently ranked fifth in the discipline and wants to find the speed he had early on in the season.
“Even after a day like today, I honestly feel very confident I’m going to podium in the super-G. That’s just the nature of things, like David Suzuki used to say,” Hudec said.
Italian Christof Innerhofer won the silver, finishing six tenths of a second behind Mayer, while Kjetil Jansrud of Norway finished third, edging 2010 Olympic champ and Lake Louise favourite Aksel Svindel off of the podium.
