The Canadian men’s alpine ski team has been on a steady rise for the past few seasons, capturing world championship and medals, landing on World Cup podiums, and scoring victory at the famed Kitzbuhel downhill.
John Kucera believes it’s only the beginning of what’s possible for the newest generation of uber-talented Canadian ski racers.
The head coach of the men’s alpine team said those achievements have created both momentum and high expectations as the World Cup season begins and preparations continue for the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Italy.
“We’re striving for podium performances. That’s where we’re putting our bar. We’ve been very successful at some world championships, you know, multiple World Cup…winners and podium places and results,” Kucera said.
“So, I think when you’re going into an Olympic Games with three athletes, for sure, who have stood on a podium already, at least the World Cup level, I mean, you’re not going to set your bar lower than that, you know?”
The revival of the Canadian men’s alpine ski program has been led by a trio of skiers that have landed on various podiums the past few seasons: Jack Crawford, Cam Alexander, and Jeff Read.
Crawford won Olympic bronze in the men’s alpine combined at 2022, which was a sign of things to come for the Toronto native. Less than a month later, he took silver in a super-G for the first World Cup podium of his career. The following season he was crowned world champion in the super-G, and last season was highlighted by winning the famed downhill at Kitzbuhel.
Watch Toronto’s Jack Crawford post-race interview, after he became the first Canadian since Todd Brooker in 1983 to win the World Cup downhill race in Kitzbuhel, Austria.
Crawford’s approach to this jam-packed season is to stay fresh, and success should follow.
“I definitely just want to go out there and kind of bring skiing that I know I’m capable of. And if I do that, then there’s no reason why medals aren’t in the question,” the 28-year-old Crawford said. “We have a long season, we have a lot of races leading in. So, [the big goal is] just making sure that by the time we get to the Olympics, we’re mentally fresh and ready to race.
“It’s pretty easy to burn yourself out beforehand because we have so much going on.”
Alexander ‘in a good place’ after injury
Crawford had some Canadian company on the podium at Kitzbuhel, as Alexander skied to a bronze medal. The 28-year-old from North Vancouver, B.C., had already carved out plenty of success before that – he won world championship bronze in the downhill in 2023 and has five career World Cup podium appearances to his credit, all started by a victory in the downhill race at Kvitfjell in 2022.
That victory marked the first time a Canadian had won a downhill since Erik Guay did it on the same course in 2014.
Cam Alexander from North Vancouver, B.C., finishes third in the men’s World Cup downhill race in Kitzbuhel, Austria. Alexander joins the winner and countryman Jack Crawford on the podium.
But shortly after that Kitzbuhel bronze, Alexander suffered a knee injury during a training run at the world championships that ended his season early.
He said off-season rehab has gone well and his knee feels good, but he’s aiming to begin his season at the second speed event on the World Cup calendar, at Copper Mountain, Colo., on Nov. 27.
“That’s my goal, to be ready by Copper [Mountain]. Obviously, for some reason I’m not ready by then, that’s fine,” Alexander said. “I think I feel like I’m in a good place coming into the season.”
Read is a second-generation member of the national team as his father, Ken, was a member of the famed “Crazy Canucks” of the 1970s and 80s. The younger Read carved his own path to the podium in 2024 when he won a silver medal in the super-G in Kvitfjell.
Read said his teammates do a good job of pushing one another, “the type of team that when you show up to training, any one of us could be the fastest that day.”
“The mood [around the team] is motivated, for sure,” he said. “I think you just see the bar raising that much higher, every year, every race.”
Canmore, Alta., Jeffrey Read claimed his first World Cup medal, a silver, at Sunday’s super-G race at Kvitfjell in Norway.
Canada has seen that type of energy around their ski teams before, like the daredevil Crazy Canucks and the Canadian Cowboys of the late 2000s.
This latest revival of the Canadian men’s alpine ski program doesn’t have a team nickname – not yet, anyway – but they do have ties to both of those renowned teams that came before them.
Kucera, the first Canadian man to win a world downhill championship, was part of the Canadian Cowboys before his retirement in 2014. He said there are similarities between his squad and the current iteration of Team Canada.
“They remind me a lot of where we were as the Cowboys, as a young group where we have, you know, three or four really strong individuals,” Kucera said. “We have a couple of young guys now coming into that program as well, where we feel like they can start taking a step. And so, you’re looking at a fairly strong team that can basically step on a podium every weekend.
“It’s no different than what we were like when I was racing.”
Kucera said his skiers are poised to consistently challenge for medal positions, both in World Cup competition, and over the next two Olympic Games.
“We’re for sure [at] this stage now where we’re always gunning for podium-level performances…at that level, we want to have athletes here who we think can challenge for [Crystal] Globes,” he said. “So, these guys are now just kind of rolling into…the first two years of their prime.
“We’re hoping that not only this Olympics, but at least the next cycle [which] really should, technically, be their strongest years.”
Italian ice
The 2026 Olympic men’s alpine events will be held in Bormio, Italy, which features a treacherous downhill that’s normally part of the World Cup circuit every December.
The Canadians have had past World Cup success on those downhill slopes – Crawford took silver in 2022, and Alexander won a bronze medal in both 2023 and 2024.
“I’m normally pretty confident on that style of slope,” Crawford said. “And when it’s gnarly, I can normally be one of the best guys out there. But you never know until you’re there.”
Toronto’s Jack Crawford reached his second alpine skiing World Cup podium of the season on Wednesday, grabbing downhill silver in Bormio, Italy.
However, the Bormio course they are used to – one with very light snow covering that’s “basically a vertical skating rink,” according to Kucera – will not necessarily be the one they encounter at the Olympics.
“You should have, probably, better snow coverage in February because you’ll just be accumulating a bit more snow. So that’s micro terrain and a surface that’s a little less gnarly,” Kucera said. “What I’ve been trying to tell the guys [is that] what we’re talking about is your experience and…in December, I mean it’s still Bormio. The downhill track will be set the same way on the same hill, but it’s going to be very different come the Olympics.
“You need to be prepared for a track that’s going to ski easier and be a lot less intimidating than maybe the one that you deal with on a regular basis, which is going to change maybe the approach.”
Kucera said Olympic success is never guaranteed – but his team is still shooting for the podium.
“Anything can happen. It’s a one-day event in a sport that has a thousand variables that are uncontrollable,” he said. “But, you know, we are for sure heading in[to the Olympics], looking to [win] a medal – at least a medal.”
The Olympic men’s alpine downhill event is scheduled for Feb. 7, while the men’s World Cup alpine ski season begins on Oct. 26 with a giant slalom in Soelden, Austria. Watch those events live on CBCSports.ca and on CBC Gem – visit the CBC Sports broadcast schedule for more details.
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