Twenty days before the Sochi Olympics officially begin, Canadian cross-country ski phenom Alex Harvey struck gold in a skate sprint, while three Bow Valley athletes cracked the top 25 in Szlarksa Poreba, Poland on Saturday (Jan. 18).
“The conditions were getting icy and a little dangerous, so I knew I had to get out in front,” Harvey said. “I wasn’t afraid of being tired because I knew I was in great shape, so my tactic was to stay out in front today. I had no choice. The final was filled with pure sprinters, but I wasn’t afraid of them or getting tired today because I knew the shape was there.”
The race was plagued by a severe lack of snow, and most of the Scandinavian countries chose not to race, opting instead to train and compete at home for their national titles. However, Americans and Russians were out in full force, which kept Harvey alert.
“I know the Scandinavian countries weren’t here today, but the Russians have been the ones to beat in sprinting and I was able to do that today. The skis were great today and I’m confident with the Olympics coming up” Harvey said.
This was Harvey’s fourth podium of the season, but first outside of the Tour de Ski stage races. At 25, Harvey already has 12 world cup podiums.
German Josef Wenzl was second, while Baptiste Gaillard of France was third.
Perianne Jones recorded her best result of the year with a 10th-place finish. Jones delayed the start of her season while she battled high iron levels, but is confident she’s rounding into form at the right moment.
Jones, 28, is known as a classic sprint specialist, but proved her mettle in the skate sprint in Poland.
“I’ve been seeing signs the last few weeks that I’m getting stronger, and feeling better, so it was really great to be able to ski well in the heats and have a good final result at the end of the day. I qualified in 30th, which is a little sketchy, so I will be working on how to make that better for the next few weeks,” Jones said.
Dasha Gaiazova qualified 26th and moved up slightly to finish in 23rd.
Devon Kershaw finished in 18th after he was knocked out of the quarterfinals. He said he was feeling strong, but got boxed out in his heat, which prevented him from moving on.
American Kikkan Randall won the women’s race, followed by Denise Herrmann of Germany and Vesna Fabjan of Slovenia.
The team followed up Harvey’s gold with a strong performance in the 15 km classic, where three Canadians landed in the top 10. Harvey just missed the podium with a fourth-place performance (35:44.2), finishing three seconds behind bronze medallist Alexey Poltoranin of Kazakhstan. Devon Kershaw finished in eighth (35:58.5), while Ivan Babikov was nipping on his heels in ninth (35:59.9). Russia’s Maxim Vylegzhanin and Evgeniy Belov grabbed the top two spots.
Skiers have one more world cup weekend in Toblach, Italy before the winter games. Some recently qualified Olympians such as Heidi Widmer and Jesse Cockney may get a chance to race that weekend.
