SRC Wrap: Manny magic, boarder brilliance

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Editors Desk

"Let's get ready to ruuummmble."

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the main event. In the red corner, wearing yellow and red speed suits, the Canadian Alpine Ski Team, otherwise known as the Canadian Cowboys and Speed Queens. In the blue corner, wearing black, the Master of Disaster, the Olympic Dream Crusher: Bad Luck."

The fighters bump gloves at the centre of the ring ... the bell sounds and the fight begins.

Bad Luck steps in and throws a roundhouse, catching the ski team on the chin (John Kucera). The team stumbles backward. Bad Luck steps forward again, releasing an upper cut (J.P. Roy), followed by a stiff jab (Larisa Yurkiw). The ski team is stunned and falls to one knee. Bad Luck, sensing victory is near, rolls its shoulders and readies for the kill shot. The team is up against the ropes, hanging on for dear life, and Bad Luck releases a powerful body shot (Kelly VanderBeek) and a final blow (Francois Bourque) to the knee.

As the ski team lies face first on the mat, the referee begins the count: "One, two, three ... eight, nine -"

Just wait a minute folks, the ski team is getting off the mat and they appear to have beaten the count. The face of Manny Osborne-Paradis stares Bad Luck square in the eyes as he steps forward into the start gate of Val Gardena and launches a lighting-fast series of punches - wham, wham, thwap. Just like that, Bad Luck goes down for the count!

Take that, Bad Luck. The Olympic dream is still alive.

- SRC editors

Monday Update:
Janyk 5th, Spence 12th in Alta Badia
McIvor podiums in ski cross opener

Manny magic
in the Dolomites

Dec. 21, 2009

Osborne-Paradis wins Val Gardena downhill

Manuel Osborne-Paradis of Canada won a World Cup downhill on the Saslong course on Saturday, serving notice that Canada has some firepower left despite a rash of season-ending injuries in recent days and weeks.

Osborne-Paradis covered the 2.14-mile layout in 2 minutes, 1.27 seconds. Mario Scheiber of Austria was second, 0.13 seconds behind. Swiss racer Ambrosi Hoffmann and Johan Clarey of France tied for third, 0.25 seconds behind the Canadian.

The Canadian team as a whole was stellar, with Robbie Dixon in sixth and Erik Guay 11th. Jan Hudec continues to regain confidence as he battles back from injury, finishing 36th.

"We dialed it in on the flats. ... Our serviceman had our skis exactly the way we needed them," Osborne-Paradis said.

"This is the first year that I have had a game plan on every course before I have got there, just with the experience that I have. I have put in my time and now it's just paying off with me being able to know the courses,"

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