Canadian Olympic bronze medalist James Crawford of Toronto, Ontario is a World Cup medalist for the second time. On Saturday, Crawford won the bronze medal in the men’s World Cup downhill race in Beaver Creek, Colorado.
Crawford had a time of 1:42.88. He reached the podium by the slimmest of margins–one one-hundredth of a second in fact over fourth place finisher Matthias Mayer of Austria, who finished in fourth place with a time of 1:42.89. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway won the gold medal with a time of 1:42.09 and Marco Odermatt of Switzerland won the silver medal with a time of 1:42.15.
Last season, Crawford reached the World Cup podium for the first time in his career. He finished second behind Kilde in winning a World Cup men’s super giant slalom race in Kvitjfell, Norway. The World Cup bronze medal came 24 days after Crawford won the bronze medal in the men’s combined at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
In the World Cup men’s downhill standings for 2022-23, Crawford is currently in 10th place with 60 points. Kilde leads with 200 points. The bronze medal on the American slopes this past weekend will give Crawford confidence as he prepares for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo.