It was a photo finish at the 2023 Super G World Ski Championship at Courchevel, as Canadian Jack Crawford edged out Aleksander Kilde by one-hundredth of a second. This is the fourth time that a Canadian man has won the Super-G World Championships, with the last winner being Erik Guay in 2017. It was a shocking upset, as the gold medal earns Jack his first-ever top-level international victory.

An interesting fact about his life though is about one of his prior sporting hobbies: hockey. The Associated Press reports that ten years ago, he was on a school hockey team with Connor McDavid, who is regarded as arguably the best hockey player on the planet right now. McDavid is currently on pace for his best season ever, with 41 goals scored and 53 assists in just 52 games played.

Jack Crawford described being on a hockey team with Connor McDavid to the Associated Press:

“I don’t doubt that I could have been a pretty good hockey player, but watching him kind of cruise around the ice is a similar way that I watch (Marco) Odermatt ski. For some reason, he’s just better than everybody else.”

He has been knocking on the door for gold in recent years, as he won bronze in Downhill Combined at the 2022 Olympics, and finished fourth in Downhill in Beijing. He has three podium finishes from the World Cup circuit.

His family is full of successful skiers, as his aunt, Judy Crawford, competed in the 1972 Winter Olympics, where she finished fourth in women’s slalom. Candace Crawford, who is his sister, was part of the 2018 Olympic Canadian ski team. After the race, James described the surreal feeling of winning the Super G World Championship to the media:

“It feels pretty surreal to be kind of etched into the history books a little bit as another Canadian world champion. I definitely wasn’t expecting anything today.”

The winning run from FIS Alpine is below.

Image/Video Credits: James Crawford, Connor McDavid, FIS Alpine

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