Thirty-third birthdays likely don’t get much better than the one North Vancouver native Manuel Osborne-Paradis celebrated on Wednesday.
The man known as Manny in the alpine ski racing world scored a bronze medal in super-G at the FIS world championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Manny and teammate Erik Guay, who finished first in a dominant performance, became the first Canadian duo ever to share the podium in a world championship race.
“I got pretty fired up because of Erik,” Manny stated in an Alpine Canada release.
Guay was the 14th racer out of the gate and led from start to finish, posting green numbers at each interval marker to win with a time of one minute and 25.38 seconds. Norway’s Kjetill Jansrud was second, 0.45 seconds behind Guay, while Manny came charging into the top 3 despite sporting a bib number of 26, which was outside the top-ranked skiers heading into the race.
As Manny crossed the finish line in third place, the St. Moritz crowd – which included his mother, Jane Osborne – serenaded him with “Happy Birthday.”
The bronze was Manny’s first medal at a world championships to go along with 11 World Cup medals. It was also Manny’s first podium finish since the birth of his daughter Sloane in November.
“It was more intense having a kid, I can tell you,” Manny joked after the race. “You can’t unsee those things.”
Manny’s world championships wrap up on Saturday with the downhill.
