Erik Guay, Jan Hudec and Manuel Osborne-Paradis lead experienced alpine ski team to Sochi

Wednesday saw the official announcement of the Canadian men's alpine skiers who have qualified for the Sochi Olympics thus far, and the three names tabbed are familiar ones. Mont Tremblant, Quebec's Erik Guay and Vancouver's Manuel Osborne-Paradis will be heading to their third Games in February, while Calgary's Jan Hudec is off to his second Olympics. All have been impressive on the World Cup circuit thus far, and although they'll face stiff competition in Sochi, there's an excellent chance that these members of the "Canadian Cowboys" group might be able to snap Canada's 20-year medal drought in men's alpine skiing.

Guay has come the closest to an Olympic medal so far, finishing fourth in the Super-G in Turin and fifth in both the Super-G and the downhill in Vancouver, and he might again represent Canada's best chance for a podium spot in Sochi. He's having an impressive World Cup season and is currently seventh in the overall standings, the best of any Canadian skier thus far. He also has a past World Cup season title in Super-G in 2010 and won the downhill at the 2011 world championships. This was expected to be a big year for him, and he's lived up to that so far; he's recovered brilliantly from July surgery, tying and then breaking Crazy Canuck legend (and 2014 Canadian chef de mission) Steve Podborski's record of 21 World Cup podium finishes in the span of eight days in December. Moreover, one of those finishes was a downhill win at Val Gardena, Italy on Dec. 21, his first World Cup gold since 2010, and that (and the bronze in downhill eight days later) helped catapult him into second overall in the World Cup downhill standings. The 32-year-old Guay is drawing international attention as a skier to watch ahead of these Olympics, and he represents a serious medal threat in Russia.

Osbourne-Paradis and Hudec are also legitimate contenders, though. Hudec earned Alpine Canada's first podium finish of the season with a bronze in the Super-G in Val Gardena in December, and he's 11th in the combined World Cup standings. He's also third in the Super-G standings. Osborne-Paradis (the only one of the three who was able to make Wednesday's announcement in person thanks to flight issues for the other two) is 32nd in the overall standings, but is less than 100 points back of Hudec, and he narrowly missed a podium at the Beaver Creek, Colorado downhill in early December, finishing .04 seconds behind third-place Peter Fill of Italy. Both have the potential to win on any given day. It also says a lot about the skiing ability of them and Guay that all three are part of a small group of skiers involved in testing new air bags, which could dramatically alter the sport down the road. These three Canadian Cowboys are some of the world's top skiers, and they'll have a chance to prove that in Sochi.

However, the competition will be stiff. Norway's Aksal Svindal and Austria's Marcel Hirscher are blowing away the field on the World Cup circuit this year, placing first and second with 630 and 515 overall points respectively. No one else is close to them; third-place Ted Ligety of the U.S. has just 333 points, and the field tightens up from there, with Guay (261) and Hudec (218) in seventh and 11th respectively. Svindal has four World Cup wins already this season, two in downhill and two in Super G, while Hirscher has two giant slalom wins and a slalom win. There are other promising contenders in the field too, including U.S. skiers Ligety (two giant slalom wins) and Bode Miller (five Olympic medals, including gold in the super combined in 2010). Canada could still have extra alpine skiing Olympians in Sochi, as remaining qualification spots will be sealed later in January, but Guay, Hudec and Osborne-Paradis look like the best medal hopes. We'll see if they can beat a tough field.