GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany - Canadian skier Erik Guay is finishing the World Cup season with a bang.
And he might not be done yet.
Guay earned his second podium in four days by finishing tied for third in the final World Cup downhill of the season Wednesday.
The Mont-Tremblant, Que., skier - who won a super-G last Sunday in Norway - clocked one minute 58.52 seconds to share bronze with Patrick Kueng of Switzerland.
"It feels good to finally be on the podium and not fourth or fifth," Guay said on a conference call.
His strong performances come on the heels of a bittersweet Olympics, in which he posted a pair of fifth-place finishes.
Carlo Janka of Switzerland won the downhill in 1:58.45 to take the overall World Cup lead with three races remaining.
Guay said he wanted to take some chances on the Kandahar course since it paid off when he did that last weekend.
"That was the game plan - take more risks and try to get out of my comfort zone and I think I did that," Guay said. "Actually, I’m sure that I did that. I definitely accomplished what I wanted to do."
Guay has made 12 World Cup podium appearances over his career, with eight of those coming in the downhill. He was scheduled to compete in the super-G on Thursday.
Guay said he was satisfied with his effort in the downhill despite a few minor mistakes.
"Little things like that happen," he said. "But they always happen when you’re taking chances. If you ski safe and round, then it’s pretty easy to have a good clean run with no mistakes and then you’re scratching your head wondering why you’re not up there.
"So I’m happy that I was able to take some chances again."
Janka, the Olympic giant slalom champion, edged Mario Scheiber of Austria, keeping the once-powerful Austrian team from winning a downhill race this season, the first time it was shut out since 1991-92.
Guay’s podium was the seventh for the Canadian team this season. He nearly reached the podium at last month’s Winter Games, but finished a mere 0.03 away from bronze in the super-G.
"I was satisfied with my Olympic results as well," Guay said. "Since then I’ve maybe been lucky enough to be on the right side of the hundredths. I feel like I’m leaving less on the hill.
"I’m taking more chances and I’m satisfied with my skiing when I get to the bottom and that’s kind of my ultimate goal."
Janka, meanwhile, received 100 points from his third downhill victory of the season for a 54-point lead over Benjamin Raich of Austria in the race for the overall title. Raich did not compete in the downhill, but will ski the giant slalom and slalom.
"In the first half of the race it was not perfect surely, but I made no mistakes at the bottom half," Janka said after his seventh career victory. "It will be good to have a good margin on my side going into the technical races."
One of the late starters at No. 20, Janka said he benefited from better conditions.
"I had better visibility," he said.
Didier Cuche of Switzerland already had secured the downhill title and finished eighth Wednesday skiing with a sore back.
"I almost didn’t make it to the start," said Cuche, who needed a painkilling shot.
Janka said the overall title would be a fine end to an already good season.
"I knew that this was the event where I needed to win some points," he said. "The race was very tight and I was the lucky one, I was on the right side of the clock."
