Two Canadians finished in the top three in men’s downhill training at the Olympics  today as Robbie Dixon  had the second fastest time and Erik Guay was third...

Dixon, who was second in yesterday’s downhill training that was cancelled after 41 racers, said he felt good about his training results but was quick to downplay their significance.

“Training runs are training runs. Everyone is trying different things looking for that right line. Sometimes it works for some guys, sometimes it doesn’t. It all comes down on race day, that’s the day that counts,” said Dixon, who finished today’s shortened run in a time of one minute 34.55 seconds. He was just 0.09s behind Austria’s Michael Walchhofer.

“It’s nice to gain the confidence from being out front in the training runs but you can’t get all psyched about that, you have got to put that behind you and look toward race day,” Dixon added.

Switzerland’s Didier Cuche, who was quickest yesterday as well, came through the finish with the best time today but was later disqualified for missing a gate.

The course was shortened, with the finish area moved up to what will be the slalom start later this week, due to snow and fog.

Guay was third in 1:34.68. Jan Hudec (Calgary, AB) and Manuel Osborne-Paradis (North Vancouver, BC) made it four Canadians in the top 21, finishing in 13th and 21st respectively.

“I am definitely not going full throttle down the hill. I am taking some gates a little easier than I would on race day, conserving a little energy and working on a few things,” said Osborne-Paradis.

“I was definitely giving it a little hard than I have been in training though because it can be difficult snow to figure out. It’s quite ‘sugary’ and you’ve got to know how to handle that and you have to prepare for that at top speeds.”

Other Canadian results from today’s training included Louis-Pierre Hélie (Berthierville, QC) in 46th with Tyler Nella (Toronto, ON) and Ryan Semple (Montreal, QC / Mont-Tremblant, QC) in 54th and 55th respectively. Michael Janyk (Whistler, BC), training to compete in the super combined, was 72nd.

The ladies first downhill training, which was originally scheduled to take place at the same time as the men, was cancelled due to the weather conditions on the lower part of the course after just two racers had left the start gate.

Photo: Pentaphoto, courtesy of Alpine Canada