VAIL, Colo. – Erin Mielzynski led three young skiers with little experience to a silver medal Tuesday amid the world’s elite at the alpine skiing world championships.
The underdogs narrowly lost the gold to defending world champions Austria, edged by just .10 seconds. Sweden earned bronze by beating Switzerland.
Mielzynski — the team captain and oldest and most experienced of the four — went first in the final against Austria, beating Eva-Maria Brem, the World Cup giant slalom winner in Aspen earlier this season. But the Canadians were unable to beat Marcel Hirscher, Michaela Kirchgasser and Christoph Noesig, losing the next three runs to settle for silver.
The team of Mielzynski, Candace Crawford, Phil Brown and Trevor Philp, dispatched Germany in the opening round, Italy in the quarter-finals and Sweden in the semis.
“We fought really hard as a team and came so close to the gold. But we’re really happy to be able to stand on the podium as a team,” Crawford said. “We’re all proud. It’s a great day.”
The event, only in place since 2005, is a parallel slalom competition and the only world championship alpine discipline in which skiers race as a team and not as individuals.
Mielzynski, a slalom specialist from Brampton, Ont., skied first out of the gate in every round of the competition and remained unbeaten throughout.
Rising stars on the giant slalom World Cup, Brown and Philp matured as the competition unfolded, scalping skiers with world rankings half their own. The 20-year-old Crawford, the youngest and most inexperienced of the four, put down stunning runs.
The International Ski Federation is trying to get the discipline included as a medal event in the Olympics.
The Canadian silver was not the only surprise of these championships. Dustin Cook of Ottawa took the silver medal in men’s Super-G last Thursday.
