Praz de Lys Sommand, Fra.—Canada’s Alex Harvey completed a stellar month by finishing fourth in a men’s 30-kilometre pursuit cross-country skiing race at the Under-23 World Championships in Praz de Lys Sommand, France on Saturday.
Reminiscent of his glorious day just two weeks ago where he captured a bronze medal at the World Cup in Whistler, B.C. with teammate, George Grey, Harvey blasted down the finishing stretch past a Russian skier while staring down his second international medal in January which sat at the finish line. But with five metres to go in the race, he lost his balance, costing him another trip to the podium. Harvey finished with a time of one hour 26 minutes 59.3 seconds.
“It was a day of mixed emotions. I was right there but I nearly tripped and that cost me a medal,” said Harvey, who hails from St-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que. “It was such a tight race today and I have to be happy because it was a really good race.”
Harvey and his teammates made history for Canada on Saturday, marking the first time four Canadian men have all placed in the top-15 in an international race at any level. Frederic Touchette, of St-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que., added to his sixth-place finish on Thursday with a ninth place result today (1:28:23.1), while Calgary’s Brent McMurtry was 10th (1:28:24.9), and Toronto’s Len Valjas was 13th (1:38:54.0).
Sergey Cherepanov, of Kazakhstan, won the gold in the men’s race with a time of 1:26:50.2, edging Alexander Bessmertnykh (RUS) by half a second. Bessmertnykh won the bronze in Thursday’s 15km freestyle.
With Harvey and the budding stars of the sport in the mix, the talent pool of Canada’s men’s team is growing deeper with nearly half a dozen athletes now ready to contend for the international podium.