CALGARY -- John Kuceras career was shorter than he wanted but he leaves alpine ski racing knowing he achieved two firsts for Canada. Authentic Ronald Leary Jersey . The first Canadian man to win a world downhill championship and the Canadian skier to stand atop the World Cup podium in Lake Louise, Alta., announced his retirement from ski racing Thursday. Kucera won the mens downhill title in Val-dIsere, France, in 2009. He earned three career World Cup medals in super-G, including gold in Lake Louise in 2006. Im just really proud I managed to take a very short career and do big things with it, the 29-year-old Calgarian said at Alpine Canadas headquarters in his hometown. It was a great ride. It really was. I did some things in this country that I was the first to do and Im really proud of that. Kuceras first four years on the national team were successful and promising. But a broken leg followed by a frustrating inner ear condition sidelined him for four of the last five seasons and also kept him from competing in two Winter Olympics. Vestibular neuritis -- an inner ear condition causing dizziness and nausea -- struck during a training camp in Chile last September and made it impossible to race through gates at 130 kilometres per hour. Kucera wasnt able to get back on skis to race at the Winter Games in Sochi in February. The symptoms still linger and the uncertainty over how long theyll remain, combined with an opportunity to join the coaching staff of the national development team, steered Kucera towards retirement. Truth be told, Im not 100 per cent yet, he said. I think my body just told me it was time to start doing something else. This vestibular neuritis is tough because there is no time line. I could be good by July, but I could be good by next July and really, nobody can give me that answer. Who wouldve thought the thing that would have finally took me out was waking up dizzy one morning? Super giant slalom, or super-G, is shorter than downhill but there are more gates on the course. The discipline requires a combination of speed and technical ability. At five foot nine and 185 pounds, Kucera wasnt as beefy as the top downhill racers early in his career, so he excelled in super-G. But on Feb. 7, 2009, he bested such heavyweights as Hermann Maier of Austria, Didier Cuche of Switzerland, Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway and American Bode Miller to win on Val-dIseres difficult slope. Val-dIsere was a course that obviously played into a lot of my strengths, very technical, very steep, Kucera recalled. That being said, I felt like every year I was becoming a better and better downhiller. I just hit the right track, the right conditions and the right time of my career to become a champion there. Kucera was the first Canadian to win in 26 years of World Cup racing at Lake Louise when he captured super-G gold in 2006. He drew the No. 1 start bib, so after crossing the finish line, the 22-year-old stood nervously in front of television cameras watching as skier after skier came down the mountain. I remember being really cold. I think it was -35 C that day, Kucera said. Coming down, having that great run, freezing, watching a lot of the people I looked up to growing up and me beating them, it was pretty exciting. Kucera dedicated that victory to his former coach and friend, Jason Lapierre, who was hit by a car while biking and died earlier that year. Kuceras successes coincided with those of teammates Erik Guay, Manny Osborne-Paradis and Jan Hudec. The Canadian Cowboys have given the national mens downhill team depth it hasnt had since Steve Podborski and Ken Read headlined the Crazy Canucks of the 1980s. Guay won the mens downhill title again for Canada in 2011, while Hudec took silver in 2007. Guay passed Podborski as Canadas most decorated World Cup racer with 22 career medals. Guay also won the overall super-G title in 2010. Osborne-Paradis collected nine World Cup medals, including three gold, between 2006 and 2010. Hudec tied for third and won Olympic bronze in super-G in Sochi. As a group, now with Jans medal at the Olympics, weve really done it all, Kucera said. The only thing I guess you could say we havent done is we dont have an Olympic champion yet. As a group, we pulled off some special things. Weve kind of superceded the Crazy Canuck era and did something great. Weve set the bar pretty high for the next group coming up, but I think thats where it needs to be. Kucera won two World Cup medals at Lake Louise -- he took silver there in 2008 -- but the mountain was disastrous for him in the first race of 2009-10. He badly broke his left leg in the super-G and erased his chance to race in Whistler, B.C., at the 2010 Winter Games. Rehabilitation and subsequent setbacks kept him off his race skis for the next three seasons. Obviously the last four years hadnt gone exactly gone the way I would have liked them to, but that being said, I felt the time was right to step away now, Kucera said. Ive had a good run as an athlete. Im walking away relatively healthy. Thats a good thing. Im excited and passionate about the next group, the guys Im going to be working with because Im going to be working with a pretty exciting group of 17- to 19-year-olds. Kuceras parents, Jan and Zdena, emigrated to Canada from the former Czechoslovakia in the early 1980s before John was born. Jan worked with the ski patrol at nearby Nakiska. John and his brother James began skiing at an early age. Authentic Steve Atwater Jersey . 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The win gave Thailand fifth place at the Asian Cup and the last of the continents qualifying spots for the 2015 Womens World Cup in Canada.ATLANTA -- Philadelphia Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg sensed it would be a good night for Kyle Kendrick when the right-hander threw his first six pitches for strikes. "They were quality pitches, and it pretty much lasted throughout the outing," Sandberg said. "Probably his best outing of the year as far as establishing command and the quality of pitches." Ryan Howard homered, Kendrick won consecutive starts for the first time in 11 months and the Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 5-2 on Tuesday night. The Phillies, winners of two straight and six of eight, got a solid start from Kendrick (3-6), who had gone 2-11 in his previous 20 starts since last Aug. 11. Kendrick allowed six hits and two runs with one walk and six strikeouts in seven innings. Not since he beat Washington last July 11 and won at the New York Mets last July 19 had Kendrick won two straight starts. The right-hander was coming off a 7-3 victory last week against San Diego. "I was able to get ahead most of the night," Kendrick said. "I was down and trying to pound the strike zone. I think that was the main thing. In the first inning, most of (the pitches) were down." Atlanta has lost seven of 11 and 13 of 21. Ervin Santana (5-4) continued to struggle, giving up eight hits and four runs -- three earned -- with three walks in six innings. Santana, who struck out five, is 1-4 with a 6.17 ERA in his last seven starts. "It was a little better, yeah, but it was it tough battling out there," Santana said. "The pitch that Howard hit was a good pitch. Just one of those days." The Phillies took a 2-0 lead in the first when Jimmy Rollins led off with a double and Howard hit his 13th homer. In 71 career games at Turner Field, Howard is hitting .277 with 20 homers and 69 RBIs. Howard also homered in Mondays 6-1, 13-inning victory. "Youre just trying to find some real estate, trying to get a good pitch to hit," Howard said. "I was fortunate eenough to do that. Authentic David Williams Jersey. It landed on the other side of the fence and gave us an early lead." Philadelphia, which had its leadoff hitter reach safely in eight innings, went up 4-0 in the fourth. Dominic Brown led off with a walk, advanced to third on Reid Brignacs double and scored on a passed ball by Gerald Laird. Brignac, who moved to third on the passed ball, scored on Cesar Hernandezs RBI single. Atlanta made it 4-1 in the fourth on Jason Heywards RBI single. The Braves cut the lead to 4-2 in the seventh when Chris Johnson led off with a double, moved to third Andrelton Simmons single and scored on Lairds double-play groundout. Simmons, named last years top defender in the NL, had a rare two-error inning in the ninth that helped Marlon Byrd reach second on an infield single and score from third on Browns fielders choice grounder for a 5-2 lead. Closer Jonathan Papelbon recovered from a blown save Monday to record his 16th save in 18 chances. Papelbon retired pinch-hitter Ryan Doumit on a lineout, Tommy La Stella on a groundout and Johnson on a lineout. NOTES: The Braves announced that LF Justin Upton left the game after six innings because of dizziness. ... Philadelphia CF Ben Revere missed the game with a sore knee after hitting the wall Monday. Sandberg said Revere is day-to-day. John Mayberry Jr. started in Reveres place. ... Phillies LHP Cliff Lee, on the DL since May 20 with a strained elbow, threw off a mound before the game. ... Phillies 2B Chase Utley walked as a pinch-hitter in the eighth. ... Braves RHP David Carpenter was placed on the 15-day DL with a strained right biceps. RHP Pedro Beato, recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett, pitched a scoreless seventh, but walked the bases loaded in the eighth. ... Braves C Evan Gattis, who got the night off, has a franchise-long 16-game hitting streak for a catcher. Del Crandall, in 1958, and Joe Torre, in 1967, had 15-game streaks. Cheap Steelers Jerseys Cheap Patriots Jerseys Cheap Bills Jerseys Cheap Jets Jerseys Cheap Giants Jerseys Cheap Redskins Jerseys Cheap Bears Jerseys Cheap Eagles Jerseys Cheap Cardinals Jerseys Cheap Jaguars Jerseys Cheap Raiders Jerseys Cheap Dolphins Jerseys Cheap Panthers Jerseys Cheap Lions Jerseys Cheap Browns Jerseys ' ' '