Three hundredths of a second: That’s all that stood between Erik Guay and an Olympic medal in the super G event in Whistler. He posted two fifth-place finishes in his Olympic speed races, continuing a recent trend that has seen him coming achingly close to the podium, but falling just short.

The ski racer from Mont Tremblant, Que., hadn’t stood on a World Cup podium since Dec. 5, 2008; in the interim, he racked up a string of 11 top-10 finishes.

“I’m tired of it,” Guay told reporters in Whistler about his stretch of close calls in recent years, saying that he knew he needed to unblock something to let go and get back onto the podium. “I don’t know what it is exactly, but I’m over it. I’m over getting those fourths and fifths.”

On Sunday (March 7), he found a way to break that barrier. Guay surged to the top of the podium in the World Cup super G race in Kvitfjell, Norway, marking his second career World Cup win and 11th medal.

With the victory, a first for him in super G, Guay became the second Canadian man – along with Whistler Mountain Ski Club alumnus Manuel Osborne-Paradis – to win both World Cup downhill and super G races in their careers.

“This win feels really good. Like in 2007, my win is at the end of the season but I still have two races left. It’s pretty exciting because I never won a super G race before today,” a relieved and excited Guay said.

The 28-year-old racer’s other World Cup victory came in a downhill race at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, in February 2007 — where this World Cup season will wrap up with men’s and women’s races next weekend.

This time, Guay was on the right side of splits of mere hundredths of a second. His time of one minute, 31.95 seconds, earned him the gold medal ahead of Austria’s Hannes Reichelt in second with a time of 1:31.97. Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal, who captured the Olympic super G gold while expressing sympathy with Guay’s near-miss on a medal, tied with Switzerland’s Tobias Gruenenfelder to win bronze in Kvitfjell.

“I’m really excited. It’s been three years since I have been on the top of the podium so it feels good to be back there,” Guay said.

“It’s a little bit of redemption from the Olympic Games since I was only three hundredths away from the podium there, and now I am two hundredths ahead. Sometimes you win on that side and sometimes you lose; this time I was on top of it, and it feels great.”

Osborne-Paradis achieved a solid 11th-place result in the super G race, after finishing 21st in Saturday’s (March 6) downhill event in Kvitfjell, which puts him fourth in overall downhill standings with one race to go. Switzerland’s Didier Cuche cemented his hold on the overall downhill title with his victory in Saturday’s race.

Calgary’s Jan Hudec, making a charge back from injuries, sped to 13th in the downhill and 17th in the super G. Guay wound up ninth in the Kvitfjell downhill, for his second-best downhill result of the season.

“Yesterday during the downhill race, I had a pretty solid run but I did some things that cost me a lot so the race was a little bit of a letdown and I knew I had to redeem myself today. I took some chances and it finally paid off,” Guay said.

“I have to say, though, while I was doing my run I didn’t think it was a winning run because I did some mistakes.”

In the women’s World Cup speed races on the weekend in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Fernie’s Emily Brydon was the fastest Canadian, speeding into 11th in Saturday’s downhill and 16th in the super G. Whistler’s Britt Janyk finished 35th in the downhill and 27th in the super G,

American powerhouse Lindsey Vonn solidified her hold on the overall downhill title with her victory Saturday, and she had already clinched the women’s super G crown but added a silver medal in Sunday’s race.