At the age of 41 years and 29 days, Johan Clarey was just a blink away from the most unlikely victory in skiing history in the Beijing men’s downhill. The Frenchman has been a fixture on the Alpine circuit for almost two decades, but even though he holds the official World Cup speed record after hitting 161.9 kph (100.6 mph) at Wengen, Switzerland, in 2013 (ending up in fifth place) he has never won a race. Competing Monday in his fourth and final Olympics, Clarey was determined to leave it all out there: A smooth, superbly controlled run saw him finish in 1:42.79, one-tenth of a second behind Switzerland’s Beat Feuz, who took gold in 1:42.69. The result makes him Alpine skiing’s oldest medalist, an honor he claims from American Bode Miller, who was 36 years and 127 days old when he took the bronze in the 2014 Super G at Sochi. “This morning, I woke up exhausted,” Clarey told The Wall Street Journal. “At 41, I’m starting to flag a little bit with recovery. But then I don’t know what happened. Five minutes from the start, one minute from the start, I felt really good, very focused. I told myself, ‘Dude, it’s your final Games. Give it your all and attack the course... Maybe today was for all the luck I didn’t have my whole career.”
Read it at Wall Street Journal
