Cook captures World Championship silver
Canadian alpine skier Dustin Cook took on the world Thursday and came away with a silver medal in the men’s Super-G race.
Cook, 25, earned the second prize at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships with a time of 1:15.79. Only Hannes Reichelt of Austria – who is second in World Cup Super-G standings this year – bettered Cook’s time by 0.11 seconds. Adrien Theaux of France won bronze. In the World Cup circuit Cook has yet to finish higher than 12th but he has enjoyed consistency this season.
While his name may not be familiar to those accustomed to the stars on tour, Cook knew he could find his quality at the Beaver Creek Resort in Vail, Colorado, his favourite course. The FIS website has the young Canadian saying “I’m a lot less surprised than most people. I’ve had fast splits all year and I love this hill. I ski here all the time, it’s basically home. I really wanted to put one down and it worked out.”
The Super-G podium at the 2015 World Championships (photo via FIS).
According to Alpine Canada’s website Cook is the first Canadian to win a Super-G World Championship medal. His hard work this year caught the attention of Canadian ski legend Ken Read, who tweeted that Cook has been the “most consistent performer of the team in 2015” and advised him to “wear that silver with pride.”
In a season that has many of Alpine Canada’s top skiers such as Olympic medallists Jan Hudec and Marielle Thompson, and top World Cup performer Erik Guay sidelined with injuries, Cook’s success will provide a great lift to his teammates and Canadian ski fans enduring a difficult few months.
Cook finished ahead of some highly decorated skiers on tour such as home favourite, American Ted Ligety (9th), and Norwegian superstars Kjetil Jansrud (4th) and Aksel Lund Svindal (6th).
Those looking to learn more about Cook, can visit his website where he says he’s “the guy everyone on the team goes to when they have a computer problem” and he wishes that he had “any sort of musical talent.”
