Canadian skiers struck gold and silver early this year as Perianne Jones and Alex Harvey both landed on the podium in a final tuneup before the beginning of the cross-country world cup season.
Racing under the dim skies of Gallivare, Sweden, Jones defeated Czech Petra Novakova in the final to take the gold medal. After dominating the heats, Jones led from line to line for a convincing win.
The race didn’t have a particularly deep field, and included several junior Swedish skiers, but it was still a good test for Jones to battle Novakova and earn some early confidence.
In Sunday’s distance race, Emily Nishikawa just missed the podium, finishing fourth, 1.22 off the pace set by Novakova, and 32 seconds away from a bronze medal.
Alex Harvey battled top Russian sprinter Sergey Ustiugov in a maple soaked final, which also included Len Valjas and Jesse Cockney.
Cockney took the early lead in the final, gapping the field on the first uphill. He was caught at the midway mark, setting up a sprint for the finish, where Ustiugov turned on the jets to drop the pack. Harvey was a second behind him, while Valjas was out-lunged at the line in the battle for bronze by Evgeniy Belov, another Russian.
Harvey reached the podium again on Sunday in the 15km classic race, where he finished third. Harvey finished 27.5 seconds behind Belov, and half a second behind Ustiugov in the race. Devon Kershaw finished fifth, Ivan Babikov was sixth and Graeme Killick finished eighth.
Erik Carleton and Brian McKeever also competed in tuneup races in Bruksvallarna, Sweden. Carleton was 66th in the 10km classic, while McKeever was 69th in the first race on Nov. 21. In the 15 km skate race, McKeever moved up to 45th, while Carleton was 62nd on Nov. 22.
The duo plan to race several loppets this year and chase a spot on Canada’s world championship team, while reducing the number of ParaNordic World Cup races on their schedule.
The world cup season opens in Kuusamo, Finland this weekend.
