Guay challenges stress

BEAVER CREEK, Colo. – Try as he might, Canadian downhiller Erik Guay can’t ski away from the pressure.

It’s everywhere these days, trailing him, engulfing him.

There’s pressure to satisfy his top sponsor. To live up to the hype that began when he burst on the scene a few seasons ago. To be a success for his country at the Vancouver Olympics in February.

That last one, in particular, is building more and more with each day.

The Canadian men’s ski team has never finished better than bronze in the downhill or super-G at the Olympics. Even more, the country has yet to capture gold at a home Olympics, failing at both the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary.

Guay is one of Canada’s top hopes to end the dry spells, especially after finishing fourth in the super-G at the Turin Olympics.

Now that’s pressure. Loads of it.

At first, Guay (pronounced Gay) simply tried to bottle up all the anxiety, keep the fight an internal struggle. Yet it only mounted.

Finally, one day last summer, he popped the pressure by admitting to himself that, indeed, the stress was a burden he was carrying down the slopes with him. To voice it was a release, a liberation.

By freeing his mind, the skiing has followed.

Guay has two top-10 finishes this season, taking fourth in the super-G at Lake Louise, Alberta, in late November and seventh in the same event at Val Gardena, Italy, nearly two weeks ago.

No longer is he fretting over image, results or the medal hopes of a nation, just focusing on the one thing in his power – cruising down the course.

That has his confidence soaring.

“I have to forget about my image sometimes and concentrate on my skiing and what’s happening there,” Guay said after racing at Beaver Creek, Colo., in December. “If you try to skip that and try to go for the victory because you have a headgear sponsor, it never works – never works out that way.”

That’s precisely what Canadian coach Paul Kristofic wants to hear. He’s been trying to drive home a similar point, only in a more subtle way.

“We don’t talk too openly about those things,” Kristofic said. “For sure, pressure has been a challenge for him. He does feel a lot of pressure. Everyone’s sort of looking at him as the one who’s going to be the one. He puts a ton of pressure on himself.”

Not too long ago, Guay was one of the fresh faces of skiing, the charismatic kid with a beaming smile. He signed on with Red Bull.

Instant pressure.

“They’re not an easy company because they expect a lot,” Guay said.

Early on, confidence overrode any amount of anxiety. At 22, he finished second in the downhill at Lake Louise.

Two years later, he had a trio of top-three finishes and was a top challenger heading into Turin.

But he bruised his calf and suffered a knee injury in training leading up to the Olympics. Guay skipped the downhill to focus on the super-G, where he finished 0.1 seconds away from an Olympic medal.