KVITFJELL, Norway – Canada’s Manuel Osborne-Paradis narrowly missed the medal podium Saturday in the next-to-last downhill of the World Cup season.

But his fourth-place finish was enough to secure him a spot in the World Cup finals.

The 32-year-old from Calgary missed third place by 0.06 seconds and in the moments after the race, called it a “bittersweet day.”

“Being fourth kind of sucks, but the goal today was to make World Cup finals, and I accomplished that,” Osborne-Paradis said. “I get to ski another race this season and that was the end goal of today.

“I’m happy to be going to finals, which is a great course for me (in St. Moritz, Switzerland) and where world championships are held next year, so it’s important for me to be going there.”

Dominik Paris won Saturday’s race, leaving the fight for the discipline title wide open. Paris trails Italian teammate Peter Fill by four points going into the final race on Wednesday.

Fill has 436 points and shares the lead with Aksel Lund Svindal. The Norwegian, however, is out for the season after knee surgery following a crash at the Jan. 23 downhill in Kitzbuehel, which Fill won.

Osborne-Paradis was the third skier out of the gate Saturday. He sailed down the course at 130 kilometres per hour, setting a fast pace that had him at the top of the leaders’ board for 13 racers. His result was a season’s best result, and a strong final note to a campaign that got off to a rough start.

“If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute,” Osborne-Paradis said on clinching a spot in the finals.

Other contenders for the overall title are Kjetil Jansrud of Norway and Adrien Theaux of France, who are 54 and 66 points behind, respectively.

“The best should win. We’re all very close now so it’s going to be a tough and interesting fight,” said Fill, who can become the first Italian winner of the globe for the season’s best downhill racer.

“It’s one of the biggest prizes in ski racing,” Fill said. “To me it would mean more than an Olympic gold medal, a world title or a victory in Kitzbuehel.”

Paris won Saturday’s race 0.20 seconds ahead of Valentin Giraud Moine of France and 0.24 ahead of Steven Nyman of the United States. Paris also triumphed in Chamonix, France, last month and became the first Italian skier to win back-to-back downhills since Kristian Ghedina won twice in January 1997.

Before the race, organizers lowered a jump after Guillermo Fayed of France tore ligaments in his right knee in a training crash Friday.

The race took place in perfect, sunny conditions after fog forced a delay of the start by a half-hour.

A super-G on the same course is scheduled for Sunday.

— With files from The Associated Press.