Canada's Devon Kershaw Strong in Finland

FasterSkierNovember 17, 2007

Devon Kershaw posted strong results in the the classic sprint and 15km classic, finishing 4th in both races. The “First-Snow” event was held in Muonio, Finland and the filed consisted of a number of very strong skiers – predominantly Russian, Finnish, and Estonian. In the sprint, Kershaw qualified in 25th and skied extremely well during the heats to finish in 4th. Russian sprinter Nikolay Morilov took home the top spot, with teammate Andrey Parfenov in second. Morilov has had significant success on the World Cup, finishing 6th in last months World Cup opener in Dusseldorf. Other top skiers included World Cup skiers Anti Saarepuu (Estonia) and Vassili Rotchev (Russia).

Kershaw's teammate Drew Goldsack qualified in 13th and finished 10th on the day. Results for the Sprint finals can be found here.

Kershaw turned in his second strong performance in two days with another 4th in this morning's 15km individual start classic. Kershaw's time of 35.23,9 left him 36 seconds behind Czech Lukas Bauer and ahead of Russian World Cup skiers Eugeni Dementiev, Vassili Rotchev, and Ivan Alypov. Nikolay Pankratov and Alexander Legkov, both of Russia took second and third respectively.

Goldsack, and another Canadian, George Grey, also competed albeit with less success. Grey finished in 42nd spot with a time of 36:50.1, while Goldsack was behind him in 43rd (36:51.8).

Full results for the 15km Classic can be viewed here. You will need to scroll down the page to find the elite men's category.

Grey will be the only Canadian to compete tomorrow in the skate race.

The Canadian men did not get off to a strong start at the World Cup opener in Dusseldorf, with a top finish of 36th. Top sprinters Kershaw and Goldsack did not race in that event.

Contributing Sources: Cross-Country Canada, FIS

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