Manuel Osborne-Paradis

Biography

Manuel Osborne-Paradis is a four-time Olympian who specialized in alpine skiing’s speed events – downhill and super-G.

“Manny”, as he is known, achieved one of the biggest highlights of his career when he won super-G bronze at the 2017 FIS World Championships, sharing the podium with gold medallist teammate Erik Guay. It was the first time two Canadian men had been on the same podium at the alpine worlds.

Osborne-Paradis was one of the creators of the “Canadian Cowboys”, a name given to members of the Canadian men’s alpine ski team who won a World Cup, World Championship or Olympic medal in the 2000s. The name garnered much buzz during the 2006-07 season when the men won 12 World Cup medals plus one at the world championships. Osborne-Paradis contributed two of those podium finishes, including his first-ever World Cup medal, silver in the downhill at Lake Louise.

Over the course of his career, Osborne-Paradis stood on 11 World Cup podiums. He earned the first of his three World Cup victories in March 2009 in the Kvitfjell downhill. His most memorable victory came at the speed season-opener in November 2009 when he won the super-G in front of the home crowd at Lake Louise. Just a few weeks later, he topped the downhill podium in Val Gardena, known as the Saslong Classic.

Osborne-Paradis made his Olympic debut at Turin 2006. Four years later, he had the thrill of competing on the familiar mountains in Whistler during Vancouver 2010. But an Olympic medal was not to be as he hit some bumps in the downhill and then fell in the super-G.

After suffering an ACL injury and broken fibula during a crash at a World Cup downhill in January 2011, Osborne-Paradis did not compete again until November 2012. In that comeback season, he recorded three top-10 results on the World Cup, including a fourth-place finish in the Kvitfjell downhill.

Osborne-Paradis made his third Olympic appearance at Sochi 2014. He returned to the World Cup podium with a silver in the Lake Louise downhill in November 2014, ending a more than four-year drought. He earned his 11^th career World Cup podium in March 2015 with a second-place finish in the Kvitfjell downhill.

At PyeongChang 2018, Osborne-Paradis posted his best Olympic result in 12 years, finishing as the top Canadian in the men’s downhill with his 14th place finish. While doing a downhill training run in Lake Louise for the 2018-19 World Cup season-opener, Osborne-Paradis crashed and suffered a complicated break to his left leg that required surgery.

A little more about Manny…

Getting into the Sport: Started skiing at age three… At 15 he moved from Vancouver to Invermere, B.C. to ski with the provincial team… Outside Interests: In 2006 he created the “Get Up and Go” bursary awarded annually to hardworking young ski racers in BC… In the spring of 2008, along with teammate Mike Janyk, he turned it into a four-day all expenses paid ski camp for up-and-coming young ski racers from across Canada who would not otherwise be able to afford off-season skiing, particularly with coaching from elite international competitors… Enjoys woodworking, surfing, playing golf, and mountain biking… Odds and Ends: Has collected more than 50 helmets from his fellow skiers, with the criteria that they have to have a World Cup podium… Favourite motto: No one cares what you do tomorrow, what are you going to do today…