EMILY BRYDON BUMPED FROM PODIUM IN ST. MORITZ

Three Canadians now in top seven in Ladies overall World Cup DH standings

ST. MORITZ, SUI (February 2nd, 2008) – Emily Brydon (Fernie, BC) ended up finishing fourth in a wild Ladies downhill today at a snowy and overcast St. Moritz, SUI that saw Slovenia Tina Maze grab the win despite being the day’s 47^th racer to start.

Brydon, who appeared poised for her third podium result of the season, finished in a time of one minute 22.76 seconds, missing the podium by 0.03s.

The race will be televised on CBC’s Pontiac Alpine Ski Series with coverage beginning at 5 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. MT. It was also available live on CBC’s Country Canada network.

Despite the solid result, Brydon admitted that getting so close to the podium only to miss out was a disappointment.

“If I had come down in fourth it would have been a good day. Fourth is really good. I was the fourth fastest in the world today and I moved up in the World Cup rankings,” said Brydon. “It’s just hard when you thought you were second.”

“I had a lot of high expectations after my training runs so I just kind of wanted to ‘race it’ and I did that. When I crossed the finish line in second I didn’t think that would hold up,” said Brydon, who won both training runs earlier in the week in St. Moritz.

“The conditions were so challenging that I thought it might (hold up) and it kind of looked that way for a while but the wind picked up and the clouds disappeared,” she added.

For Maze, the stunning victory is her first since 2006 and the first of her career in the downhill. Wearing bib #47, Maze crossed the finish line in a time of 1:44.38. Austrian Maria Holaus was second while Switzerland’s Lara Gut, the 2007 World Junior Championships downhill silver medalist, finished third.

Canada’s Kelly VanderBeek (Kitchener, ON) finished 28^th while Britt Janyk (Whistler, BC) drops to third in the overall Ladies World Cup downhill standings after today’s 31^st place result.

There are now three Canadians in the top seven of the overall Ladies DH standings as Janyk sits third with 264 points, VanderBeek is sixth with 192 points and Brydon is seventh with 175 points.

Meanwhile today’s Men’s World Cup downhill in Val d’Isère, FRA was cancelled because of heavy snowfall. CBC’s Pontiac Alpine Ski Series will update the situation in Val d’Isère, FRA at 1 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. MT prior to replaying the Men’s downhill from Wengen, SUI that originally aired Jan. 13^th, 2008 in which Canadian Manuel Osborne-Paradis (Vancouver, BC) finishes third.

The Ladies World Cup continues tomorrow with a Super G in St. Moritz while the Men are schedule to race a super combined in Val d’Isère.

ST. MORITZ, SUI – FEB. 2^ND, 2008 – DH – MEN

Did not finish first run: DESFORGES Emilie, YURKIW Larisa, POLESCHUK Danielle,

For complete results: http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/610.html?sector=AL&raceid=52352