FRANCE – Right after Erik Read rushed across the finish line in Tuesday’s (Feb. 14) mixed team parallel, a few seconds had passed until it was clear to the alpine racer what happened as his brother ran over, screaming with his hands in the air.
For the first time, Canada won bronze in the team event in stunning fashion at the 2023 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships when the underdogs – consisting of Canmore trio Erik Read, Jeff Read, and Britt Richardson, and Valérie Grenier of St-Isadore, Ont. – defeated the ski heavyweights of Austria in the small final.
A huge accomplishment, it is the foursome’s first medal at a world championship – a competition that rivals the Olympics in significance.
“All I see is Jeff screaming with his hands up running toward me and giving me a hug,” said Erik, 31. “I think that was definitely one of the coolest moments in my ski racing career, right there.”
In the head-to-head team format, it came down to the final slalom run of the race where older brother Erik edged out his Austrian counterpart on the slopes in Courchevel Meribel, France, to win Canada’s only world championship in the event.
“It’s not something I would say was unimaginable, but it’s definitely pretty crazy that we did it and we’re pretty happy with how everything went,” said Jeff, 25.
Something special was in the air when the Canadian mixed team parallel roster was revealed the day before the big race. Not only did it showcase three athletes from Canmore, but also the inclusion of Jeff among three technical skiers was an unusually appealing addition.
A mainstay on the men’s speed team, Jeff is more apt to the open space of a downhill as opposed to the tight zigzagging that slalom racing offers. However, perhaps all those years growing up and participating in local parallel classic, the Bozocup at Mt. Norquay in Banff National Park, paid off.
Following his debut in the speed at the world championships, the younger Read stuck around for a few days after the speed events wrapped up. He had finished 11th in super-G and 30th in downhill, which left him with mixed feelings.
When the belt was tightened on Canada’s roster at the world championships and Erik was the only male technical skier left, an opportunity arose.
“We weren’t even sure if we were going to have a [mixed parallel] team,” said Erik.
“Jeff had to make the decision to be the one to stick around, whereas all the other [speed team] went home. I don’t know if he would have necessarily done that if I wasn’t his brother.”
The brothers teamed up with Grenier, who has been huge on the slopes this season and won world cup gold in giant slalom (GS) in January, and Richardson, the up-and-coming Canmorite who also happens to be the youngest member of the national team at age 19.
The combination proved to be red and white magic.
“I think Canadians thrive off of high-energy and teammates supporting each other," said Richardson. “To be able to work together as a team and be in the start as one group and aiming for a gold medal or just the best race ever, we all had the same mindset and to be able to push each other was really cool.”
Mixed team parallel is an exciting knockout format with four skiers (two men and two women) taking on four skiers from another nation. With four runs in each race, two competitors ski side-by-side in parallel slalom. The winner of each head-to-head race wins points for their country. If there's a 2-2 tie, the best times of a country’s top runs are combined to determine the winner.
In the 16-team bracket, Canada delivered a dream run.
In the first heat and match-up against the Slovenians, the Canucks ran over their counterparts 4-0 to move on to the next round against the No. 1 ski country in the world.
Switzerland was the favourite going into the quarterfinal match-up against Canada; however, after some slick racing, it was all tied at two and came down to times to decide the outcome. The underdog Canadians clocked in at 44.84, narrowly edging out the shocked Swiss and their time 45.25. The victory guaranteed the Great White North had a shot at a medal.
“That’s when you start to really believe anything is possible,” said Erik.
On one side of the bracket, it was an all-North American semifinal between Canada and the United States, while on the other side, the defending champion Norwegians took on the three-time world champion Austrians.
Dreams of gold ended for Canada after a disappointing 3-1 defeat to the Americans, to get sent to the small final. Norway defeated Austria 3-1.
Still in the picture was a podium finish and Canada rallied after its first loss of the day.
“We had such a strong team out there and everyone was just skiing incredibly well every run,” said Richardson. “We worked so well as a team and the vibe was really good and we were able to just send it every run.”
Two-time Olympian Grenier was first out of the gates in the bronze medal race and gave the Canucks a huge time lead on Austria.
“We knew we had a chance, especially with Val’s skiing and her GS this year,” said Erik.
Second up for Canada was the younger Read brother Jeff. A specialist in speed disciplines, he slipped on the short slalom course and lost time against Dominik Raschner. Read stayed on course and gave it everything he had to the finish.
“I was a little whack out there and needed a little more consistency, for sure, but I went out there and tried to give it my all,” said Jeff. “I knew I had to lay it on the line, and, unfortunately, it did catch up with me and I got a little behind it and let it slip.”
Third up was Richardson, who went toe-to-toe with Franziska Gritsch. The youngest Canadian on the national team was narrowly beaten by .09 seconds in the run.
It set up the final deciding race between Erik, who won all four of his runs and was beaming with confidence against, Stefan Brennsteiner.
Erik had to beat the Austrian and finish his run faster than 23.06 seconds to take bronze.
“When it came down to it, the time to beat wasn’t so high, it was more I had to win that run because Val had been pretty fast,” said Erik.
The older Read brother, a technical specialist, jumped out to a fast start and kept the momentum to the finish, ahead of Brennsteiner, and crushing the time to beat at 22.39.
The bronze is Canada’s first world championship medal in the event. It also ties the record for most medals won by Canada at a world championships with three.
“We knew in the team event anything can really happen and we really showed that today by taking out two of the biggest nations in skiing,” said Jeff.
The U.S. won gold against Norway.
Mostly a sport where individual results reign supreme, having the opportunity to race with, and podium with a team is unique – especially when a family member is up there as well.
“There is no one I’d rather stand on a podium with,” said Jeff. “It’s a really special moment that we’ll definitely be able to remember for the rest of our lives. Of course, our parents [Ken and Lynda Read] are really proud. I think it’s special and something to cherish.”
The speedy Canucks built on the momentum of Canada’s speed team last week where Jack Crawford won gold in the super-G, and Alexander Cameron took bronze in downhill.
The third medal won ties Canada’s record for most ever at a world championships.
“It’s really adding to a crazy story we got building here,” said Jeff.
