James (Jack) Crawford of Team Canada competes on Feb. 10 at the men's alpine combined downhill event in Yanqing, China, during the Beijing Winter Olympics.Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
More below • How does Olympic alpine skiing work? A visual guide
One guy had to borrow a pair of downhill skis from a teammate. Another guy hadn’t skied slalom – not even for kicks – in a year and a half. The last guy is a Canadian achieving his “childhood gream” (sic).
Meet your men’s alpine combined medalists.
The alpine combined is what it sounds like – downhill plus slalom equals a time. It is nobody’s main job. But since it represents an Olympic medal, it’s something everyone wants to try out every four years.
The Canadian is James (Jack) Crawford, a 24-year-old from that noted skiing hothouse, Toronto.
Mr. Crawford has been quietly (and now loudly) putting in one of Canada’s notable performances at these Games. He placed sixth in the super-G here and fourth in the downhill. That would already have been a breakout showing for this country. A star in the making.
But on Thursday, he put the two things together. He was in second place after the downhill portion.
“A little nervous,” Mr. Crawford said at that moment. “Hopefully, I can channel my inner slalom skier from back in the day.” Just like they teach it at the high-performance academy!
Mr. Crawford was seventh in the slalom, which combined to give him a shock bronze. He is the second Canadian to win any sort of Olympic alpine medal this century.
Afterward, Mr. Crawford was stunned.
People use that word a lot to describe athletes just after they’ve done something incredible or awful. But few have ever come out so befuddled by a sudden, wonderful turn in his life than Mr. Crawford.
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway, who won silver, and Johannes Ewald Strolz of Austria, who won gold, join Crawford on the podium.Christian Hartmann/Reuters
The other two skiers joining him at the big table already had varying levels of familiarity with the spotlight.
Austrian gold medalist Johannes Strolz is the son of Hubert Strolz, who won the alpine combined at the Calgary Games in 1988. As with his son, it was almost the only significant thing he ever won. The junior Mr. Strolz was cut from the Austrian team and nearly quit sport a year ago. During his time in the wilderness, he got a job as a policeman.
Mr. Strolz is a slalom specialist. He didn’t bring his own downhill skis to China. He had to borrow a pair from his teammate and three-time Olympic gold medalist Matthias Mayer.
“They were rockets,” Mr. Strolz said. Obviously.
The silver medalist was a suddenly very famous face from skiing. Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde already has one medal here in Beijing. But he is best known now as the boyfriend of American superstar, Mikaela Shiffrin.
According to Mr. Kilde, the last time he skied slalom was August, 2020. His knees hurt and he wasn’t even sure he would do the event before Thursday morning. He credited his slalom technique in part to watching videos of Ms. Shiffrin and mimicking her “cleverness.”
Crawford prepares to put on his bronze medal.Luca Bruno/The Associated Press
The interviews with the gold and silver medalists were extensive, multilingual and easygoing. By contrast, Mr. Crawford’s interview had the air of the cops showing up at your door to ask you a few questions.
When the official running the news conference lobbed up a softie in the neighbourhood of, “How does it feel?” Mr. Crawford stared at him for a bit, dazed. “Pretty good” was how he eventually started off. Which is pretty good.
Then it started to go wobbly. “Ah, it’s, ah, it’s been a long time, ah, grinding on, ah … oh God, I don’t know what to say. My brain’s kind of all over the place.”
Totally understandable. Mr. Crawford took a minute. He sucked in some air. “It’s always been a childhood gream aaaaahh ....” and here he suggested an act which ought not be done in public and can’t be printed in this newspaper. “Sorry. I’m nervous.”
Up until that point, all the Eurocentric, skiing-specific journalists in the room were busy ignoring Mr. Crawford, trying to hit their deadlines. Every head suddenly turned and the room burst into delighted laughter. Despite his best efforts, Mr. Kilde didn’t get that sort of laugh.
Mr. Crawford didn’t have much to add after that. He fled the podium. But his work was done. For the second time on Thursday, Jack Crawford had made himself a Canadian skiing legend.
How does Olympic alpine skiing work? A visual guide
ALPINE SKIING
BEIJING 2022
SCHEDULE
Qualification
Medal
FEBRUARY
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Alpine skiing is one of the signature events at the Winter Olympics, with athletes flying down the mountain at breathtaking speeds. Olympic skiers can reach speeds of 128 km/h to 150 km/h as the crouching position allows racers to minimize air resistance.
Men’s and women’s alpine skiing debuted at Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 with the alpine combined event comprising a downhill and a slalom run
All competitors must wear a crash helmet for the race
Racing suit
Goggles
Gloves
Gate
Shin guards
Skis with
ski brakes
Ski poles to guide turns, help skier maintain balance
COMPETITION FORMAT
Against-the-clock format, competitors attempt to cross the finish line in the fastest time
TECHNICAL EVENTS
Each skier completes two runs – not revealed until raceday – with no practice runs. The winner is the skier with the quickest combined times.
Slalom
Giant slalom
Gate width
4m-6m
Gates
45-75
Gate width
4m-8m
Gates
28-68
Elevation/
vertical
drop
Gate
distance
0.75m-13m
Gate
distance
Min. 10m
Men
180-220
Men
300-450
Women
140-200
Women
300-400
ELEVATION DROP — IN METRES
SPEED EVENTS
Skiers make a single run, with the quickest time taking gold. Speeds reach 130 km/h to 160 km/h. Downhill practice runs are not only allowed but required
Super-G
Downhill
Gates delineate racing line
Gate width
6m-12m
Gates
28-45
Open gate
Closed
gate
Gate
distance
Min. 25m
Gate
width
Min. 8m
Men
400-650
Men
800-1,100
Women
400-600
Women
450-800
ELEVATION DROP — IN METRES
OTHER EVENTS
Alpine combined
Consists of a downhill run followed by slalom
Competitors must complete a successful downhill run to advance to the slalom run
Mixed team parallel
Teams comprise two men and two women
Two teams compete simultaneously against each other in a parallel slalom race
SOURCE: REUTERS
ALPINE SKIING
BEIJING 2022
SCHEDULE
Qualification
Medal
FEBRUARY
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Alpine skiing is one of the signature events at the Winter Olympics, with athletes flying down the mountain at breathtaking speeds. Olympic skiers can reach speeds of 128 km/h to 150 km/h as the crouching position allows racers to minimize air resistance.
Men’s and women’s alpine skiing debuted at Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 with the alpine combined event comprising a downhill and a slalom run
All competitors must wear a crash helmet for the race
Racing suit
Goggles
Gloves
Gate
Shin guards
Skis with
ski brakes
Ski poles to guide turns, help skier maintain balance
COMPETITION FORMAT
Against-the-clock format, competitors attempt to cross the finish line in the fastest time
TECHNICAL EVENTS
Each skier completes two runs – not revealed until raceday – with no practice runs. The winner is the skier with the quickest combined times.
Slalom
Giant slalom
Gate width
4m-6m
Gates
45-75
Gate width
4m-8m
Gates
28-68
Elevation/
vertical
drop
Gate
distance
0.75m-13m
Gate
distance
Min. 10m
Men
180-220
Women
140-200
Men
300-450
Women
300-400
ELEVATION DROP — IN METRES
SPEED EVENTS
Skiers make a single run, with the quickest time taking gold. Speeds reach 130 km/h to 160 km/h. Downhill practice runs are not only allowed but required
Super-G
Downhill
Gate width
6m-12m
Gates
28-45
Gates delineate racing line
Open gate
Closed
gate
Gate
distance
Min. 25m
Gate
width
Min. 8m
Men
400-650
Men
800-1,100
Women
400-600
Women
450-800
ELEVATION DROP — IN METRES
OTHER EVENTS
Alpine combined
Consists of a downhill run followed by slalom
Competitors must complete a successful downhill run to advance to the slalom run
Mixed team parallel
Teams comprise two men and two women
Two teams compete simultaneously against each other in a parallel slalom race
SOURCE: REUTERS
ALPINE SKIING
BEIJING 2022
FEBRUARY
SCHEDULE
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Qualification
Medal
Alpine skiing is one of the signature events at the Winter Olympics, with athletes flying down the mountain at breathtaking speeds. Olympic skiers can reach speeds of 128 km/h to 150 km/h as the crouching position allows racers to minimize air resistance.
Men’s and women’s alpine skiing debuted at Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 with the alpine combined event comprising a downhill and a slalom run
Ski poles to guide turns,
help skier maintain
balance
All competitors must
wear a crash helmet
for the race
Racing
suit
Goggles
Gate
Gloves
Shin guards
Skis with ski brakes
COMPETITION FORMAT
Against-the-clock format, competitors attempt to cross the finish line in the fastest time
TECHNICAL EVENTS
Each skier completes two runs – not revealed until raceday – with no practice runs. The winner is the skier with the quickest combined times.
SPEED EVENTS
Skiers make a single run, with the quickest time taking gold. Speeds reach 130 km/h to 160 km/h. Downhill practice runs are not only allowed but required
Super-G
Downhill
Slalom
Giant slalom
Gate width
6m-12m
Gates
28-45
Gate width
4m-6m
Gates
45-75
Gate width
4m-8m
Gates
28-68
Gates delineate racing line
Open gate
Elevation/
vertical
drop
Closed
gate
Gate
distance
Min. 25m
Gate
width
Min. 8m
Gate
distance
0.75m-13m
Gate
distance
Min. 10m
Men
400-650
Men
800-1,100
Women
400-600
Women
450-800
Men
180-220
Women
140-200
Men
300-450
Women
300-400
ELEVATION DROP — IN METRES
ELEVATION DROP — IN METRES
OTHER EVENTS
Alpine combined
Mixed team parallel
Consists of a downhill run followed by slalom
Competitors must complete a successful downhill run to advance to the slalom run
Teams comprise two men and two women
Two teams compete simultaneously against each other in a parallel slalom race
SOURCE: REUTERS
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Cathal Kelly