Jack Crawford's alpine bronze medal could be start of new era for men's skiing in Canada

Fourth place. It was in danger of becoming a tradition for the Crawford family. 

In the first alpine event of these Beijing Olympics, Canada's Jack Crawford finished fourth in the men's downhill by an agonizing 0.07 seconds. He'd also finished fourth in the alpine combined at the world championships last season.

And 50 years earlier, his aunt, Judy Crawford, finished fourth in the women's slalom at the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo, Japan.

"[Judy] said no one remembers fourth place," Crawford told CBC Sports. "She knew what I was feeling. You go to the Olympics to get medals; that's what matters. To walk away with one it's crazy. It feels amazing."

So when the hundredths of seconds began falling in Jack's favour, his whole family was on edge. At their house in Georgian Peaks, Ont., about 90 minutes northwest of Toronto, the Crawford crew stayed up well into the night on Feb. 10 to see Jack ski to the podium, becoming the first Canadian to ever win a medal in the Olympic alpine combined. 

"I haven't watched a lot of his races. I was a little nervous," Jack's father, Angus Crawford, told CBC Sports. "The nerves come out when you see them doing 140 or 150 kilometres an hour on these two little sticks, but with Jack, he's just solid."

WATCH | Jack Crawford skis to bronze medal in alpine combined:

The alpine combined adds the times of one downhill run, Crawford's strength, and a slalom run, which he has never raced on the World Cup level.

Crawford sat third after the downhill, just 0.68 seconds back of leader Johannes Strolz of Austria. Then a few hours later, Crawford's seventh-place showing in the slalom was good enough to keep him on the podium and out of that cursed fourth-place spot. Strolz won gold and Norway's Aleksander