Canadian flavour: Cam Alexander skis to downhill bronze in worlds debut, Crawford 5th

In his world championship debut, alpine skier Cam Alexander raced to bronze in men's downhill on Sunday for Canada's second medal following Jack Crawford's super-G title Thursday in France.

Alexander stopped the clock in one minute 47.94 seconds, 89-100ths of a second behind Swiss winner Marco Odermatt (1:47.05) and Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (1:47.53). 

"Just pushing and feeling like I was hanging on a bit," Alexander told reporters in Courchevel. "When you're fighting and hanging on in downhill, usually it means you're going fast. I had a couple of mistakes but they weren't too costly. All in all, it was solid."

Crawford, who stood third for a while on another bright day in the French Alps, was fifth in 1:48.06 and "not surprised at all" with Alexander's performance.

"Cam, he's always had the speed, he has battled through some unfortunate injuries that have kind of sidelined him for a little while," Crawford said. "His speed and ability is right up there with me and the other guys on our team."

WATCH l Alexander crosses finish line in 1:47.94 in French Alps:

Three weeks ago, Alexander showed his potential for reaching the medal podium when he tied for sixth at a World Cup downhill in Kitzbuhel, Austria, 1.5 seconds behind Kilde.

On Jan. 29, he placed 20th in super-G action in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

Sunday's race was interrupted for 20 minutes after Brodie Seger of North Vancouver, B.C., awkwardly landed a jump and apparently hurt his right knee. He was taken off the hill on a stretcher and flown to hospital by helicopter.

Calgary's Jeff Read rounded out the Canadian contingent in 30th (1:49.50).

WATCH l Crawford 5th three days after standing atop podium:

Odermatt won gold for his first career world