CROSS-COUNTRY:

Historic winter for XC as Kershaw, Harvey finish in top 10

March 21, 2011 — Cross Country Canada  

FALUN, Sweden — For the first time in the history of the sport, Canada has placed two men in the top-10 of the overall World Cup standings as the best cross-country skiers completed the World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden, on Sunday.

Devon Kershaw completed a memorable 2011 season in eighth spot overall after capturing a gold, two silvers and a bronze medal at the Tour de Ski earlier this year to go along with the nation’s first-ever World Championships gold medal when the 28-year-old Kershaw teamed up with Alex Harvey to win the sprint relay last month in Oslo, Norway.

The 22-year-old Harvey was the top Canadian in the World Cup Finals mini-tour with an 11th-place result after posting a total time over the four-race series at the World Cup Finals of 1:49:20.0. Harvey, who also won the gold medal in the pursuit race at the Under-23 World Championships this year, finished 10th in the Overall World Cup standings.

“The last time Canada had a male in the top 10 overall was my dad (Pierre Harvey) a long time ago,” laughed the young Harvey, who added that Sweden is the only other country in the world to have two athletes in the top 10. “To have two athletes in this group is amazing and shows we have been consistent in competitive in all areas. We are really happy about that.”

Norway’s Petter Northug won the mini-tour in Sweden with a time of 1:46:32.0. Norway’s Finn Heagen Krogh, who posted the fastest time on Sunday’s 15-kilometre pursuit race at 37:06.3, was second at 1:48:17.1, while Switzerland’s Dario Cologna finished third after racking up a time of 1:48:17.4.

Ivan Babikov was the fastest Canadian on Sunday. The two-time Olympian, who had a season-best eighth in last week’s World Cup pursuit race in Finland, was 10th (37:48.4) on Sunday to finish 16th overall in the World Cup Finals mini-tour with a time of 1:49:51.8.

Kershaw finished 27th at the World Cup Finals at 1:52:10.0, while Graham Nishikawa was 37th (1:54:26.5).
 
Perianne Jones was the only Canadian woman to qualify with the top 50 in the world for the finals. Jones, who had a career-best 12th-place finish in Wednesday’s sprint race, was 41st overall at 1:18:48.2.

Norway’s Marit Bjoergen won the women’s mini-tour with a time of 1:08:48.7.
 
The 2010-11 season will be remembered as one of the most successful ever for the team as a whole. With new head coach Justin Wadsworth leading the way, the Canadian squad had a goal of peaking at the Tour de Ski and World Championships, where they clearly stood on top of the world. With Chandra Crawford and Daria Gaiazova getting the medal run started at a World Cup team sprint realy in Germany prior to the holiday break, Kershaw became the third Canadian ever to win a World Cup gold medal at the Tour de Ski, where he and Harvey challenged for the podium each day. The Canadian duo then shocked the world by knocking off the dominant Norwegians for the nation’s first-ever World Championships gold medal in February.

“We are physically and mentally tired from all of the racing, which has been so intense over the last few weeks,” said Harvey. “But after a break and looking back at our season, I can tell you we are extremely motivated as a team to get training again and prepare for next year. Justin will be back and we have a lot of great things to build from and look forward to as a team in the future.”

Led by Wadsworth’s wife, Beckie Scott, Canada’s most successful season leading into this year was the 2006 campaign, when the team won 17 medals including an Olympic gold by Crawford and a silver by Scott and Sara Renner. Following the 2006 Olympics, Kershaw broke through with his first World Cup medal and has never looked back. Four-time Olympian Renner is the only other Canadian to win a World Championships medal when she won the bronze in the classic-sprint race in 2005.