Philp takes 10th in super-G at ‘The Rock’ in Beijing

BEIJING – Trevor Philp almost lost a pole mid-race, but he still managed to pull out some Olympic magic at ‘The Rock’.

Racing to an Olympic-best 10^th place in the men's super-G on Monday (Feb. 7), the 29-year-old former Banff Alpine Racer pushed it on the course.

“It felt good and a little messy,” said Philp in a press release. “I was inspired by Jack who charged so hard and made mistakes and wasn’t losing much time, so I knew that was the mentality I had to have.

“There were a few turns that you had to nail today, and it's such a fine line between risk and reward.”

Winning gold was Austria’s Matthias Mayer at a time of 1:19.94, his second medal of the Beijing Games. Mayer successfully defended his super-G title that he’s held for consecutive Olympics.

Last November, the Olympic champion also won gold in downhill at the Lake Louise world cup.

Snagging silver in the super-G was the Untied States’ Ryan Cochran-Siegle at a time of 1:19.98. Norway's Aamodt Aleksander Kilde took bronze, crossing the line at 1:20.36.

Jack Crawford was the fastest Canuck in the race, finishing sixth at a time of 1:20.79.

The race took place at “The Rock” at the Beijing National Ski Centre, a mysterious new course made for the Games and named after its rocky landscape with a snaking run through a canyon of 2,267 metres from start to finish.

At the first time checkpoint, Philp was 0.14+ behind Mayer as he navigated the course, but lost some time when he nearly lost a pole on a turn about halfway down before recovering.

The technical skier used his giant slalom expertise to slice down the course where nine of the top 30 did not finish including Canadian teammates Broderick Thompson and Brodie Seger.

Philp later added on social media: “Some mistakes as always, but after watching the guys before me I knew I really had to push it.”