Amidst deafening crowds in Quebec City, Canada’s national cross-country ski team fell short of World Cup glory Friday and Saturday (Dec. 7-8) in the team and individual sprints.
Devon Kershaw and Prince of Quebec Alex Harvey were closest to the podium, finishing fifth in the team sprint, 1.9 seconds back. Kershaw led for large swaths of the race, however, a tough transition on the fifth lap and a Harvey crash on the last lap dashed the Canadians’ best medal hope.
Kershaw and Harvey are defending world champions in the team sprint, but attributed the fifth place finish to bad luck.
“I knew right there it was done. When your hand touches the snow in sprint racing the gap is just too big to make up,” said Harvey. “That is sprint racing. The Swedes are two of the best out here and you never would expect him to go down, but there is nothing you can do. You need to find your luck in sprinting.”
The duo, along with the rest of Canada’s fast twitch Nordic skiers will have a chance to redeem themselves in World Cup individual sprints on Saturday (Dec. 15) at the Canmore Nordic Centre.
Jess Cockney and Len Valjas also earned a spot in the Quebec World Cup A final, ending up 10th. In the first team sprint of his career, Cockney went stride for stride with Kershaw, but an overzealous move ended up in a fall, knocking the team out of contention.
“I went too early. I knew I had some speed left, but that’s part of the learning curve. I was excited, the crowd was loud and I was following Devon, which I thought was a good move. I had a small fall and that totally knocked us out,” Cockney said.
Cockney’s World Cup experience started poorly, when the airline lost his bags. They weren’t found until midnight, before the team sprints. That led to a series of other misteps, which he hopes to avoid in racing at home.
“It was close to being two really great days. In the individual race, I was 32nd (two spots ahead of Kershaw) and didn’t make the heats, but I was less than three-tenths away,” Cockney said. “I gained a lot of confidence. The conditions weren’t well-suited for me in Quebec. I had a few things go wrong, but it was good to know I could ski with the best. In my backyard, everything should run smoother.”
The individual men’s races also didn’t go as well as planned for the Canadians.
Harvey was the lone heats qualifier and ended up 21st. Kershaw was 34th, Andy Shields 41st, while Russell Kennedy and Len Valjas were 45th and 46th, respectively.
The women’s team was also disappointed with individual races. Chandra Crawford narrowly missed the heats by finishing 32nd, followed by Perianne Jones (38th), Dasha Gaiazova (41st), Alysson Marshall (42nd) and Heidi Widmer (43rd). After the races, Gaiazova apologized for the performance to the massive crowds in Quebec, calling her race ‘awful.’
Alberta World Cup Academy coach Stefan Kuhn said, in general, the Canadians struggled, but several young Canmore athletes showed promise, building confidence for this week’s series of races.
“Jess teamed up with Lenny for his first team sprint and showed he belonged there. It was only his third World Cup start and he showed progress. Kennedy was super strong in the team sprint, and skied with a new partner in Alexis Turgeon that he wasn’t used to. Heidi Widmer had a good sprint in the individual race,” Kuhn said.
Proving they can keep up with the top racers in the world was a huge confidence boost for the skiers, Kuhn said.
“I hope to see more aggression from them on Saturday. If you’re not aggressive, you can lose a spot quickly,” Kuhn said.
The retired sprinter was able to race four world cups at home, and said the biggest thing for his team is to enjoy it.
“Most racers never get to race World Cup at home, so you’ve gotta enjoy it. You ski the course more than anyone else, so you can’t finish and say you didn’t leave it all out there,” Kuhn said.
