Four months ago, Canada’s cross-country ski team was brimming with great expectations.
Their goal of two medals at the 2014 winter Olympics seemed plausible, as coach Justin Wadsworth believed his team was the best the nation had ever assembled. Alex Harvey looked dominant and Devon Kershaw said the time was now to end Canada’s 100-year men’s ski drought.
Warning signs began to percolate throughout the world cup season, but 14 days ago, the Canadians were still a confident bunch. They had targeted the team sprints on Feb. 19 to hunt for a medal.
But as Charles Dickens once wrote, suffering has been stronger than all other teachings. Two weeks of frustration and dissatisfaction could not be exorcised on the sprint course.
Desperately trying to salvage what has been a disappointing Olympic Games for Canada’s cross-country skiers, Kershaw and Harvey fell short in the team classic sprint where they finished 12th, knocked out in the semifinals.
“It was so difficult out there. I’ve never seen a semifinals so blown out like that,” Kershaw said. He was battling a cold and had been quarantined from the team in a downtown hotel room since Saturday (Feb. 15) and was questionable to start.
“I was not sure I was going to race until the doctor checked me out and said I couldn’t damage myself worse,” Kershaw said. “If it’s not the Olympics, I wouldn’t have even tried.”
“People always say you have to learn from this, but I think I learned what I needed to in Vancouver in 2010,” said Harvey. “I was expecting more from these games, but there is nothing to learn here ... unfortunately, it just didn’t happen.”
In their semifinal heat, Kershaw held in tough through the first lap, where he maintained contact with the lead pack heading into the first transition. Harvey moved the team up to first place early on, but faded as the Swiss put on a big push, and he exerted too much energy, too soon. The field began to string out and Kershaw struggled to keep the leaders in sight, while Harvey slowly closed the gap.
Each lap strung the pack out, until Harvey finally crossed the line well back of the leaders. The Canadians had a faint hope at the lucky loser spot, but were beat out by the Czech Republic for the final spot.
“The course is really hard and the conditions were tricky. It’s not the skis, the tricky conditions made for a hard race,” Harvey said.
With Kershaw battling illness, the team did consider using Lenny Valjas in the team sprint, but decided Kershaw was a safer bet.
Aware that Own the Podium funding only goes to medal winners, the skiers must now put all their hopes on the women’s 30-km skate on Saturday (Feb. 22) and men’s 50-km skate race on Sunday (Feb. 23).
After watching four years of work collapse, Wadsworth was devastated by the results.
“This is the worst feeling that I have had since being with the team. We obviously had some waxing issues early and then Devon had a bit of sickness. We thought about Lenny, but he has had some health issues too with his knee and didn’t qualify in the sprint, so was a bit of a risk,” Wadsworth said. “But my disappointment stems from years of being ready for this day and then having nothing.”
He didn’t have any answers following the sprints, but vowed to find more.
“As a coach, I take all of this responsibility. It is hard, but I will go back and review and try and find answers. There is not much else I can say.”
