YANQING, China (Reuters) – Freshly-crowned Alpine combined bronze medallist James Crawford is not sure if it was aerodynamics or “juju”, but he believes shaving off his moustache might have helped bury a family history of narrow podium misses.
The 24-year-old Canadian finished third in the combined competition on Thursday after Austria’s Johannes Strolz won gold and Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde took silver.
Crawford had come fourth in Monday’s downhill race and sixth in the super-G on Tuesday, watching as skiers who started later pushed him from medal positions.
“I’ve been searching for a podium so long,” the fresh-faced skier told reporters, proudly wearing his medal next to the slalom finish line in the Xiaohaituo mountains.
“I kept feeling it was right around the corner.”
Believing it may be bringing him bad luck, Crawford shaved his moustache for the combined competition on Thursday.
“I honestly shaved it because I felt it wasn’t getting me on the podium. It was a little bit of a juju thing. Maybe it was the reason, maybe not. I definitely look a lot younger!”
After coming 20th in combined and 29th in the giant slalom at the 2018 Winter Olympics, Crawford’s bronze finally brought a long-craved medal to the family he began skiing with aged three.
Older sister Candace Crawford came ninth in the mixed team parallel in the 2018 Games. His aunt Judy Crawford Rawley came fourth in the slalom at the 1972 Olympics.
“She always told me nobody remembers fourth place,” he said.
“It’s kind of cut-throat but it’s true at the Olympic Games, a medal is everything.”
(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
