Jack Crawford’s next medal chance and other storylines for the rest of the alpine world championships | CBC Sports

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Did Canadian Jack Crawford’s shocking gold medal yesterday get you interested in the alpine skiing world championships? You’re coming in at a good time. Here are some intriguing storylines to follow for the rest of the meet:

Can Crawford do it again?

Yesterday in France, the 25-year-old captured Canada’s first alpine world title in six years by upsetting the world’s best men’s skiers in the super-G. Crawford, who had never won a race at the top level of the sport, took out Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt and Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde — the top two in both the men’s overall and super-G rankings — among others.

Crawford is gaining a reputation for skiing his best at the biggest events. At last year’s Beijing Winter Olympics he won bronze in the combined race and just missed a medal in the downhill, despite at the time having never reached the podium in the Olympics, world championships or even the World Cup tour. He’s since captured three World Cup medals, including a silver and a bronze in downhills this season to move up to sixth in the downhill rankings.

The Moment | Canada’s Jack Crawford shocks the world in men’s super-G in France:

Canada’s Jack Crawford wins gold at skiing world championship | The Moment

Considered the underdog, Canada’s Jack Crawford shocked the world when he took home gold in the men’s super-G at the FIS Alpine world ski championship in France.

Considering that, plus his near-bronze in the Olympic downhill last year, plus yesterday’s victory in the similar super-G discipline, Crawford is a podium threat in Sunday’s men’s downhill. His competition will once again include Kilde and Odermatt, who sit first and third, respectively, in the World Cup downhill standings. Second-ranked Vincent Kriechmayr is the defending world champion. Besides Crawford, Canada’s best medal hope is probably Cameron Alexander. He won a surprising World Cup downhill gold last March and is ranked 26th.

Watch the men’s downhill live Sunday at 5 a.m. ET on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem. Catch a replay on the CBC TV network at 3 p.m. your local time.

Will Mikaela Shiffrin get back on top?

Surprise has been the theme of these world championships. The four winners so far — Crawford, France’s Alexis Pinturault and Italians Federica Brignone and Marta Bassino — all rank outside the top three in their World Cup overall standings.

Most conspicuously winless among the sport’s giants is Shiffrin, the American star who recently became the all-time leader in women’s World Cup victories and is now just one shy of Ingemar Stenmark’s men’s/women’s record of 86 (world championship wins don’t count toward her World Cup total). Shiffrin has won 11 of her 23 World Cup starts this season to all but ensure her second straight overall title. But she’s 0-for-2 at the worlds after missing a gate while leading in the combined and finishing second behind Bassino in the super-G. Prior to that silver, Shiffrin had missed the podium in her past six individual events at major championships — a drought dating back to last year’s Olympics, where she failed to even crack the top eight in her five solo events.

The good news for the planet’s most dominant ski racer is that her two best events are still to come. Shiffrin is skipping Saturday’s women’s downhill (5 a.m. ET on CBC Sports’ streaming platforms) to prepare for the giant slalom on Thursday and the slalom next Sunday. All but one of Shiffrin’s 11 World Cup victories this season have come in these more technical disciplines, along with both of her Olympic gold medals and four of her six world titles.

Shiffrin is the favourite to win both — especially the slalom, which she won four straight times at the world championships before settling for bronze in 2021. The 27-year-old is now poised to capture her seventh World Cup slalom season title along with her second in the giant slalom and her fifth overall crystal globe. Plus, Stenmark’s all-time wins record. Adding world titles in the slalom and giant slalom would make this pretty much a perfect season.

Could any other Canadians win a medal?

Like we said, these world championships have been full of surprises. But, besides Crawford, only one other Canadian has won a World Cup medal this season and/or is ranked in the top 10 in any discipline. That’s Valérie Grenier, who last month shocked Shiffrin (and everyone else) by winning a World Cup giant slalom race in Slovenia to (briefly) prevent the American star from tying Lindsey Vonn’s all-time women’s wins record.

On the strength of that victory, Grenier ranks ninth in the GS standings. But the rest of her track record is not great. In her other 95 World Cup starts across all disciplines, the 26-year-old has never finished higher than fourth. She placed sixth in the women’s combined event at the 2018 Olympics but has never cracked the top 10 at the world championships.

Marie-Michèle Gagnon, who’s done at the world championships after finishing 10th in the women’s combined and 26th in the super-G, announced today that she’s retiring at the end of the season. The 33-year-old is Canada’s all-time leader in alpine World Cup starts (272) and world championships starts (25). She’s reached five World Cup podiums, including two victories, and competed in three Olympics.