Erik Guay may have nursed injuries to get to the 2010 alpine ski events at the Vancouver Olympics, but he wasn't playing out the string.
The 28-year-old specialist in speed events, who posted Canada's best alpine ski results at the Games and then went on last month to capture the World Cup Crystal Globe in super G, said yesterday he's already laying a foundation for the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.
"For me, it was never on my mind to quit after these Olympics. I know in this sport athletes can ski well in competition until they're 35-36 and be on top."
He said at this time in the season he could have been more aggressive, but said his caution wasn't because of his new status as a father; others simply had faster days. In the Olympics, he missed the podium in the super G by three hundredths of a second.
"I will keep going and be there until my body says 'No,' " said Guay, who had his peak World Cup accomplishments after the Olympics.
In 2009, the skier from Mont-Tremblant, Que., achieved 10 Top-10 finishes in World Cup speed events and reached one podium, a third. In 2010, after starting the season in the doldrums and dealing with twinges in his back, Guay broke through. He was fifth in the two speed events at the Olympics - the downhill and the super G - then he scored three consecutive podiums last month, including wins in the last two super G races of the season at Kvitfjell, Norway, and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
Those wins, combined with a 15th place finish by Austrian Michael Walchhofer to close the season, enabled Guay to come from off the pace to win the World Cup discipline trophy in super G, the first Canadian man to win a Crystal Globe since Steve Podborski's downhill win in 1982.
"It was a long season for sure, but the Crystal Globe is something I've been dreaming about my whole career." said Guay.
"It's absolutely a compensation [for not winning an Olympic medal] The Crystal Globe and the World Cup, that's our Stanley Cup... The Olympics was special, of course, because the Olympics were being held in Canada, and it would have been special to bring it home. But in normal times, I'd take a Globe over an Olympic medal."
Though he has trained with ski cross athletes and has expressed interest in that rough-and-tumble freestyle version of the sport, he's not about to leave alpine racing, he said.
"There's an appeal for the ski-cross side and its built for TV, but it's not associated with the alpine side, and the only way I'd do it is if there was some kind of collaboration. The schedules conflict with each other. I am an alpine skier, and unless things change, I'll stay that way.
"It's exciting, but there's a risk. The biggest thing is to stay healthy this summer. I just bought a place in Calgary, so I'll get closer to where the team trains and I'll have a more professional buildup to the season."