The big man is back.
After a year of battling a nagging knee injury that sapped the strength from his towering 6 foot 6 frame, Canmore’s Lenny Valjas cracked the top 15 with a 13th-place finish in the world cup men’s skate sprint in Davos, Switzerland on Saturday (Dec. 14).
Valjas, 26, burst on the scene two seasons ago with a string of world cup medals and was considered a medal contender for Canada in advance of the 2014 Sochi Olympics. However, injury and illness robbed him of his speed and Canada’s most promising sprinter failed to qualify with a top 30-result in a year and a half – until Saturday.
“Today was exactly the day I needed,” said Valjas. “It’s been a long time since I’ve made the heats and it has worn me down. I can’t tell you how happy I am to make it today, and a result that I am happy with.”
Valjas had the 10th fastest time in the heats and drew a quick quarterfinal against top qualifier Federico Pellegrino. Valjas dropped back to fifth on the first hill, but waited to make his move. On the final corner, he saw an opening as four skiers ahead of him bunched up. Valjas turned on the jets, flew into fourth place and lunged at the line for second. In a photo finish, he was barely edged out, and failed to advance.
“This course suits my size and skiing so I was able to use my size and move fast,” Valjas said. “This weekend, we have the same race and I look forward to learning from today and trying to ski even better.”
Canmore’s Jesse Cockney had targeted the Davos sprint as his best shot at earning a top-30 finish. He fell just short, missing his goal by half a second to finish 37th. Alex Harvey was 45th and Devon Kershaw was 59th.
Norway swept the podium again, as Haagen Krogh took the win over Anders Gloeersen and Eirik Brandsdal.
Perianne Jones was the lone Canadian in the women’s sprint. She finished 40th and missed qualifying in the sprints by less than two seconds.
A lack of snow in Switzerland did change the schedule in Davos. Friday’s 30 km race was shortened to a 15 km classic race, where Harvey was the top Canadian, finishing 17th with a time of 40:45.5. Kershaw missed the top 30 by seven seconds, finishing 32nd with a time of 41:25.2. Graeme Killick was 41st and Kevin Sandau finished 70th.
Marcus Sundby of Norway won the race in 39:39.7, followed by countryman Didrik Toenseth. Dario Cologna of Switzerland was third.
Canada’s women’s team received a huge boost when Emily Nishikawa picked up the first world cup points of her career with a 29th-place finish in the 10 km classic. Nishikawa finished in 31:02, while Norway’s Therese Johaug won the race in 28:30.8.
In other cross-country ski news, Alysson Marshall won back-to-back NorAm races in Rossland, B.C. in her push to grab a world cup start. Marshall won the 11 km classic race on Saturday, 21 seconds ahead of Annah Hanthorn of Whitehorse. She also won Friday’s 7.5 km race ahead of Andrea Dupont.
