If the pressure was on anyone on the team, it would be Manuel Paradis-Osborne who has had the best year of his career and is currently the third-ranked downhill skier in the world.
But even so, he’s not getting worked up, he said. He’ll just keep doing what he’s been doing.
“Obviously the whole country, Vancouver, Whistler, everybody is really excited,” he told reporters this week. “But for me, from start gate to finish, it is just another race. You can’t take anything away from how we race world cups.”
This attitude has been working, considering he’s won his last two events this year and finished second in another.
It can be harder to concentrate on the race the way he normally would though, said Paradis-Osborne, given the amount of press and hype surrounding the games.
“You definitely have to mentally stay in your bubble and figure out how you’re going to race and don’t let everything else get in your way and mislead your focus.”
“The difference between Torino and now is that we have four guys right here that can all win golds. We’re all capable of it. That is what we have been pushing for.”
Osborne-Paradis and Dixon grew up skiing the Whistler hills and in some ways it is a bit of a homecoming for them to be in Vancouver again. Dixon said he was excited to have the first shot at gold.
“It is a great opportunity to have the downhill be one of the first events. Obviously the pressure and the energy that’s really building up around Vancouver and around Canada is just amazing.”
Dixon is ranked No. 32 in the world at the moment, but was the second fastest to complete a practice run of the course last Saturday.
He said it would be great to have the chance to win gold. It would be the first time that would ever have happened on Canadian soil. In the previous two Games Canada hosted, in Montreal 1976 and Calgary 1988, Canada left with silver.
“Especially racing on my home hill where I grew up skiing with Manny, it’s pretty amazing,” he said.
