Ken Read

Don Harron:Canadian athletes are in the international spotlight more and more these days, their latest accomplishment being in the World Cup skiing circuit. The Crazy Canucks of the men's team literally dominated the first race this season, placing four skiers in the top ten in the downhill event - quite an accomplishment in a sport dominated by Europeans for so long. The winner of that race is home for Christmas. He's on the phone from Calgary. Good morning, Ken Read, and the mightiest of congratulations.

Ken Read:Thank you very much.

This isn't the first time you've won a World Cup downhill, is it? No, I have two more.

Two! When was the last time you won?

In February of this year, in Chedigny, France.

How did you feel when you went into that first race this season?

I think the team, as a whole, was pretty confident. We've had good training throughout the fall, and the training going into the race was pretty good. First, as a team, we won three of the four timed training runs, so it was working out quite well.

What was the basis of the confidence? You just sort of felt good, or you felt you were trained?

We felt trained and ready to race. Everything had been going quite well, and we were confident that we could run the course the way we wanted to run it.

Is there a reason for this sudden depth of strength in the men's team? Not any? Well, I think it's been there for a while. It's just that, up to now, we've had some unfortunate circumstances that have prevented a good team showing. We did well back in December '75, was the last good team showing that we've had, and since then, it's been mainly individual results. But there's been no basic change in your training program? Not really. We've had? Our training program of this year is the same as the one of last year. It's just that, last year, Dave Murray was out through the first half of the season with a knee injury, and then Steve Podborski, maybe his?he's starting off a little stronger this year than he did last year. So, the group is at the fore, at the beginning, of the year, instead of halfway through.

Were you surprised then? Were the team surprised by the results of that first race?

I think we were surprised that we did as well as we did. I think? Well, we were all hoping that we were going to do well, but to come 1st, 2nd and 7th and 9th was a bit of a surprise, that we'd be able to dominate that first race like that. It's the opposite of the hockey story. I mean, the Russians just whooped the NHL team over in Europe, and the opposite happened with the ski team. Now, is this because an inferiority complex has been removed from you or what?

I don't think so. It's just that everything came together at the right time. We usually start quite strongly. But again this year, it was a good team showing that sort of put it to the Europeans, shall we say.

And what's been the reaction by the Europeans to this Canadian success? Well, they weren't too pleased, particularly by the fact that the Russians came third, and so the Europeans were shut right out. And then also in the third race, the last one before Christmas, again they were almost entirely shut out. A Swiss boy came second and that was it. The first place was a Norwegian, and I was third. So, they've lost their dominance through the month of December, but certainly, they're not people to count out. They'll be training hard over Christmas and the Christmas break. How does Franz Klammer feel?

I think he probably is a little disappointed with his December results. He was sick for the 1st race, and then he came 5th in the next 2. But for someone who's been winning for so many years, it's kind of hard to be beaten. Ken, if there was a victory sweeter than the one you've just tasted, what would it be? I think the first one that I won had to be, just because it was the first one?the first time that I'd been able to win in a top, world-class competition so? And where was that?

That was Val d'Isere, '75. What are your predictions for the rest of the season?

Well, for me, I'm just taking each downhill as they come. The season's?we have another seven downhills. It's a long season. People are up, people are down. You can't really predict things, and the snow conditions are changing all the time, so you just have to take each one as it comes. It's a new race. It's a new study. So, your future's just going downhill. Any New Year's resolutions? Keep working hard.

Okay. And congratulations. But you know already. I've been talking to Ken Read, the winner of the first World Cup downhill of the season.