Three Canadians missed the heats by slim margins on Saturday, with Len Valjas placing 31st for the third time in a World Cup skate sprint this season and Maya MacIsaac-Jones finishing 31st in the women's race, followed by Dahria Beatty in 32nd. “It’s a great start, it’s exciting and that’s why we have them over [there],” head coach Justin Wadsworth says.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby won his third-consecutive Tour de Ski by a record-breaking 3 minutes and 15 seconds and another Norwegian, Finn Hågen Krogh, bested a tight chase pack for second overall. Russian Sergey Ustiugov captured third, and Alex Harvey led the North Americans in 14th at the end of the eight-stage Tour.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby showed he's still got it, winning Saturday's 15 k classic mass start ahead of Norwegian teammate Niklas Dyrhaug and Kazakhstan's Alexey Poltoranin, for nearly a 1 1/2-minute head start in Sunday's final climb. Alex Harvey notched seventh on the day for 12th overall heading into the final stage.
Finn Hågen Krogh knows a lot about ups and downs, and has formed somewhat of a pattern at this year's Tour de Ski. However, the Norwegian had one of his career-best races on Friday, winning the 10 k freestyle by 3.6 seconds ahead of teammate and overall Tour leader Martin Johnsrud Sundby. Noah Hoffman placed 19th to lead the U.S., and Canadian Alex Harvey finished 37th and is now 15th in the Tour.
The fifth stage of the Tour de Ski, the men’s 15-kilometer classic mass start on Wednesday, was decided by mere inches. Kazakhstan’s Alexey Poltoranin took the lead in a group of five athletes from the final descent, with several more shortly behind, and outlunged Switzerland’s Dario Cologna.
Therese Johaug once again dusted the women's field, this time in the 10 k classic individual start at the World Cup in Toblach, Italy. There, two U.S. women finished in the top 20, about two minutes behind her.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby double poled all 15 k of Sunday's classic race in Toblach, Italy, for his fifth win in as many World Cup distance races this season. Russia's Alexander Bessmertnykh rivaled him for most of the race, but finished 12.6 seconds back on kick wax. Canada's Alex Harvey placed 16th and Devon Kershaw was in the points in 28th.
“The skis felt sticky,” is what Canadian National Team Head Coach Justin Wadsworth said about his team’s thoughts on their shortcomings on Saturday in the World Cup freestyle sprint in Toblach, Italy.
At one point in Saturday's World Cup skiathlon, Alex Harvey wanted to give up. He didn't and ended up 10th, and what's more, Canada placed 21st, 23rd and 24th with Graeme Killick, Devon Kershaw and Ivan Babikov. Noah Hoffman rebounded from 36th at the ski change to finish 25th.
Alex Harvey’s second place on Saturday remains a single drop in the bucket, but it’s a reminder that his quest for the World Cup overall is for real. With "new" legs post-surgery, the 27-year-old Canadian is now a contender in strenuous skate races as well as classic sprints and distance events.
Lenny Valjas was the lone Canadian to qualify on Friday in the first World Cup race of the season, the Ruka Triple classic sprint in Kuusamo, Finland. “Today’s goal was just to qualify and to make it into the points," Valjas explained. "There was no huge expectations."
With Canadians and Russians to contend with, American Andy Newell placed second overall in Saturday's FIS classic sprint in Gällivare, Sweden. “I think what you’ll see more from me more this year is I’ll be the one making attacks and not responding to other peoples’ [attacks],” Newell explained.
Why did World Cup veterans Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw sometimes race on what looked like antiquated Fischer skis? The duo talks about the almost-magic qualities of those boards, which belonged to a former team tech, and what life is like without them. “If I see Poltoranin on those skis, that will weird me out big time,” Kershaw says.
Head coach of the Canadian World Cup and national team, Justin Wadsworth spoke to FS at length about the team this season and how its athletes have handled summer and fall training. Bottom line: most everyone starting on the World Cup is healthy, and several are in the best shape of their lives.
It wasn't easy, but the crew at the Canmore Nordic Centre got it done. "We have a slightly smaller loop than we had before because we had so many warm temperatures last February and March," Canadian head coach Justin Wadsworth explained. But the Frozen Thunder classic sprint was held on snow Monday with more than 50 competitors, and Emily Nishikawa and Lenny Valjas emerged as this year's winners.
What do you get when you bring a couple dozen of Canada's best up-and-coming and veteran skiers together to train? National-team head coach Justin Wadsworth explains, and reflects on how the first-ever Alignment camp went.
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Alex Harvey's personal coach and the head coach of the Pierre-Harvey Training Centre for more than a decade, Louis Bouchard has been recognized as one of Canada's top coaches for some time. This year, FasterSkier picked Bouchard -- the man behind two individual World Championships medals -- as its 2015 Coach of the Year.
After feeling like health issues stunted her career two seasons ago, two-time Olympian Perianne Jones decided to give it one more year and go out on a high note. She did so, staying healthy and logging some career-best distance results in her final season with the Canadian national team.
A year after an energy-draining Olympics, Justin Wadsworth said the energy within Cross Country Canada is palpable. He, for one, is ready to get back to co-coaching the World Cup Team, trading weekends on the road with Louis Bouchard and working with up-and-coming domestic coaches in Europe.