Less than a month before Ski Tour Canada storms Canmore, Alex Harvey is drawing closer to the form he needs to reach the top of the podium on home soil.
Harvey finished seventh in the classic city sprint in Stockholm, Sweden, Saturday (Feb. 13).
“It was really important to get this result today. I haven’t had much success in the sprints this year so it was nice to get back in the top 10, especially with the Ski Tour Canada coming up, which has three sprint races,” Harvey said.
Harvey was the lone Canadian to reach the heats, qualifying 20th on the course that wove through downtown Stockholm around the Royal Palace. Relying on double poling the flat course, he finished second in his opening heat, and just missed out on a trip to the A final by one spot, before winning the B final.
“It is always really cool anytime you can bring a sporting event to a downtown. The music and energy was really cool,” Harvey said. “The course was tight and I had to focus on having good lines in every corner today. Downtown sprints are quite flat, and usually not a lot of terrain, so we went with the strategy to use skate skis.”
Russia’s Nikita Kriukov won the race over Norway’s Ola Vigen Hattestad and Petter Northug.
Len Valjas didn’t qualify for the heats, finishing 45th.
Canmore’s Andrea Dupont was the lone Canadian in the women’s sprint. She finished 52nd in a race won by Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla.
The Canadians didn’t have as much luck on Saturday (Feb 13), when the world cup shifted to Falun, Sweden. Harvey has had lots of success in years past in Falun, having won three medals at the venue, but this year he could only muster a 52nd-place in the 10 kilometre classic race. Maxim Vylegzanin of Russia took the win over countryman Alexander Bessmertnykh. Maurice Manificat of France was third.
Devon Kershaw was the top Canadian, finishing 44th, a minute and a half off the pace. Graeme Killick was 55th and Valjas 80th.
Emily Nishikawa finished 64th, over two minutes off the pace in the 5 km classic race, while Dupont was 67th.
On Sunday (Feb. 14) Kershaw climbed back into the points in the 15 km freestyle with a 28th-place finish. Killick finished 68th, while Harvey and Valjas skipped the race.
Nishikawa cracked the top 40 in the women’s 10 km freestyle race on Sunday, finishing 39th. Dupont was 69th.
Norway’s Therese Johaug continued to dominate the women’s world cup. She finished first by 18 seconds over Heidi Weng, also of Norway. Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg of Norway completed the sweep.
The rest of the team will compete this weekend in Prince George, B.C. for the Canadian Western Championships, where athletes such as Brian McKeever, Jess Cockney, Dahria Beatty and Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt will attempt to clinch spots on Team Canada for the tour. Canada has room for 14 men and 12 women on its team, which will be announced on Feb. 22 at Mount Engadine Lodge.
“It will be good to be back in Canada and get a fresh start,” said head coach Justin Wadsworth. “The team has been gone since the beginning of November, so I know racing at home will give them a lot of energy.
“This has been a focus for us on the calendar. There is lots of excitement for sure, and they all know there is a good opportunity to take advantage of this fresh start at home to end the season strong.”
