Italy's Razzoli takes men's slalom gold

Canadian Cousineau finishes 8th

Last Updated: Saturday, February 27, 2010 | 7:13 PM ET

By Justin Piercy, CBC Sports

Italy's Giuliano Razzoli reacts after winning the gold medal in the men's slalom, in Whistler, British Columbia on Saturday. (Gero Breloer/Associated Press)

Giuliano Razzoli held on to win gold in the Olympic men's slalom race on Saturday at Whistler Creekside, giving Italy it's first Olympic Alpine medal in 16 years.

"It's a dream because I wanted this medal for a long time and I worked a long time," said Razzoli. "Now I'm here with a gold medal. It's incredible."

Leading after the first run, Razzoli entered with a cushion of 43-100ths of a second and posted a combined time of 1 minute 39.32 seconds to hold off Croatia's Ivica Kostelic of Croatia, who finished 16-100ths of a second off pace to collect silver.

Andre Myhrer of Sweden was 44-100ths of a second back for the bronze.

Julien Cousineau of Lachute, Que., was the top Canadian finisher in 8th spot with a combined time of 1:40.66.

Cousineau was 19th after the first run but posted a superb second trip down the hill with a time of 51.07 that kept him in a medal position with five skiers remaining.

"I just wanted to go really fast and move up," Cousineau said. "I didn't want to finish 17th. Seventeenth doesn't mean anything to me here.

"I'd like to be on the podium and I think that's what everybody is striving for. It wasn't in the cards for me, but I can't be mad. It's the second-best result for me of my career. I'm going to keep moving up. It's good for the future for me."

Cousineau's previous top finish was a fifth-place performance in a slalom this past January in Austria.

North Vancouver's Michael Janyk finished in 13th with a second run of 51.91 and a combined time of 1:41.09 while Calgary's Trevor White was 26th.

"It's pretty devastating," said Janyk. "I was going for it. I didn't hold anything back.

"I'm extremely happy for Cousineau. To have him be eighth is a big step for him. It solidifies our team for the rest of the season and next year."

Calgary's Brad Spence didn't qualify for the final, crashing out in his first run.