Canada's Frédérique Turgeon, Alexis Guimond ski to bronze medals at Para alpine worlds

Canada picked up its first two medals of the Para alpine world championships on Wednesday with podium finishes in both the women's and men's standing downhill races in Espot, Spain.

Frédérique Turgeon skied to bronze in the women's standing downhill for her first medal since suffering a leg injury in a downhill training crash at the Beijing Paralympics last year.

The 23-year-old from Candiac, Que., finished with a time of 56.64 seconds, while Germany's Anna-Maria Rieder won gold (55.35) ahead of France's Aurélie Richard (56.27). It is Turgeon's fourth world championship medal following her silver and two bronze medals in 2019.

"Today felt really awesome," Turgeon said in a press release. "As a team we were really focused on what we needed to do to nail this course and to keep the racing line. There were some things to clean up and do better but I'm very happy with today's performance."

"It feels really good to be back on the podium, especially in the downhill after the crash in Beijing. This is a little surreal."

Turgeon finished fourth in Tuesday's alpine combined and fifth in Monday's super-G.

Fellow Canadian Alexis Guimond took home bronze in the men's standing downhill on Wednesday for his first-ever downhill medal at a major event.

The 23-year-old from Gatineau, Que., was the first man down the course, laying down a time of 51.07 that held up for third place.

Four-time Paralympic medallist Markus Salcher of Austria won gold (50.03), while Switzerland's Robin Cuche finished ahead of Guimond for silver in 50.11.

Guimond previously won a bronze medal in the giant slalom at the 2018 Paralympics.

"Today was a good day overall," Guimond said. "I think the team really pushed hard and we got some really good results. It's great to be back on the podium, especially in downhill."

Calgary's Kurt Oatway just missed the podium with a fourth-place finish in the men's sitting downhill (51.24), while Brian Rowland of Merrickville, Ont., was 13th (56.70).

Seven-time Paralympic medallist Jesper Pedersen of Norway topped the men's sitting podium with a time of 49.62, finishing ahead of fellow Paralympic veteran Taiki Morii of Japan (50.52). 

Jeroen Kampschreur of the Netherlands claimed bronze in 50.97.