Canada's Erik Guay capped his return from potentially career-ending injury to claim a second world title when he surprised the field to win the men's super-G in St Moritz Wednesday. The 35-year-old, the 2011 world downhill champion in Garmisch, timed 1min 25.38sec down the 1.9km-long Corviglia course in overcast conditions. Norway's Kjetil Jansrud, the reigning Olympic super-G gold medalist and winner of three super-Gs this season, claimed silver, at 0.45sec, with another Canadian, Manuel Osborne-Paradis, taking bronze on his 33rd birthday (+0.51sec). "It's incredible," said Guay, who best mastered the flat light and at-times rolling course that saw a handful of favoured racers ski out including Olympic downhill champion Mathias Mayer, winner of the Kitzbuehel super-G. Guay has notched up just five World Cup wins in his long career, the last coming in the Kvitfjell downhill in March 2014 before undergoing knee surgery that summer that almost saw him end his life as a ski racer. "It's just the whole history with coming back from injuries... coming back here and forgetting about everything and enjoying it," said the Quebec native, who finished third in last season's World Cup downhill final in St Moritz. "Happy as can be. It's incredible to be on the podium with Jansrud and Manny, two close friends." Osborne-Paradis made the most of improving light from his start bib number of 26, describing his bronze medal as "the best birthday present". "I made a big mistake in the middle of the course and I knew if I didn't ski the rest of it well that would be it," he said. "It's the beauty of racing." Osborne-Paradis edged out a second "attacking Viking" in the shape of Aleksander Aamodt Kilde by three-hundredths of a second. Meanwhile, Lindsey Vonn took a cautious look at the downhill course Wednesday in the first practice run and finished more than two seconds behind leader Ilka Stuhec of Slovenia. "I just wanted to get a feeling for the course," said Vonn, who was 12th on an overcast morning that made visibility tricky. "I was just skiing down solid and trying to build my confidence again." The American failed to complete the super-G race Tuesday and had problems with her right hand, three months after she broke her upper arm. Two more downhill practices are scheduled before Sunday's marquee race, and Vonn should get a further look at the slope in the opening downhill leg of the combined race Friday. Mirjam Puchner crashed during Wednesday's training run and was airlifted from the mountain. There was no immediate report on her injuries.
