Canada and the U.S. men's teams battled for a close 10th and 11th positions in Friday's 4 x 10 k relay at the 2015 FIS Nordic World Championships in Falun, Sweden. While both teams acknowledged a desire for improvement, they were pleased with their respective efforts.
The Canadians placed seventh in the second men's semifinal at 2015 World Championships on Sunday, missing out on a spot in the final and placing 13th overall. “Everything worked to plan, it was just we were a little bit too far back, a second or two," anchor Lenny Valjas said.
Alex Harvey wasn't the only Canadian to race in Thursday's World Champs classic sprint. Lenny Valjas finished 14th overall for the men after placing third in his quarterfinal, while Perianne Jones placed 24th.
Five north American men qualified for the heats of the World Championships 1.4-kilometer classic sprint. Alex Harvey led the charge in the wet and warm conditions to finish fifth overall.
Canada's Alex Harvey rocketed to his best non-stage World Cup result this season with a second-place finish in Saturday's 1.2 k classic sprint in Östersund, Sweden. He closely followed race victor Finn Hågen Krogh, who overtook Italy's Federico Pellegrino in the World Cup sprint standings.
Three of nine athletes met Cross Country Canada's primary standards for selection to the 2015 World Championships Team, and CCC named another six skiers to the team on Monday.
After making it through the qualifier, three Americans and Canadian Alex Harvey were not able to race their way into the semifinals of Saturday's World Cup 1.3 k freestyle sprint in Rybinsk, Russia. However, American Erik Bjornsen had his best sprint result on the World Cup and reached the heats for the first time.
In her first World Cup of the season and best result since the 2012 World Cup freestyle sprint at home in Canmore, Alberta, Alysson Marshall launched back into international-racing action on Saturday and placed 44th in the women’s 1.2-kilometer classic sprint in Otepää, Estonia.
A critical mistake at the end of a quarterfinal heat prevented Canada's Alex Harvey from moving on to the semifinals of the Tour de Ski 1.4 k freestyle sprint in Val Müstair, Switzerland. Meanwhile, Simi Hamilton led the American skiers with an eighth-place finish.
Last year, Canada's Alex Harvey won the Tour de Ski prologue. That wasn't going to happen today: "I haven’t quite found my groove in skating this year," he said, but he's still in a great position for tomorrow's 15 k pursuit. Meanwhile, Simi Hamilton of the U.S. Ski Team scored his first World Cup distance points in 26th.
Canadians Lenny Valjas and Jesse Cockney skied well enough to finish in the points in the final race before the holiday break, a 1.3 k freestyle sprint on Sunday in Davos, Switzerland. It was Cockney's best individual World Cup result in more than two years.
Catch up on what you may have missed this weekend, as nordic competitions across the globe are begging to heat up. Here, we recap everything from biathlon in Austria to the cross country World Cup in Switzerland and everything in between.
Check out the quotes that didn't make it into our race reports this weekend, from FasterSkier's on-site coverage from the Davos World Cup 1.3 k sprint.
It has been a year and a half since Lenny Valjas last made an appearance in World Cup sprint heats. Let that sink in. The tall Canadian is thrilled that not only is he back and feeling like himself, but he didn't just squeak in - he qualified tenth and missed a lucky loser spot in the semifinals by just 0.03 seconds.
Finn Hågen Krogh had what he called a perfect race Sunday in Davos, Switzerland. After placing third in the qualification round of the 1.3 k freestyle sprint, the Norwegian rapidly progressed through his quarterfinal, semifinal, and ultimately the final to earn his first World Cup victory and another Norwegian podium sweep.
Rock-solid and fast conditions on the second day of the Lillehammer mini tour didn't work to the Canadians' favor, with Alex Harvey struggling with his left leg about 3 kilometers into the 10 k freestyle and Ivan Babikov feeling like he couldn't turn it into high gear.
While Alex Harvey was the only Canadian to make the heats on Friday, at least two of his teammates -- Perianne Jones and Jess Cockney -- were less than a second off the mark in the World Cup skate sprint in Lillehammer.
Alex Harvey came close to making the semifinals in the classic sprint, but like many in the field he struggled with icing klister over the top of one of the course's biggest hills. The rest of his team - Lenny Valjas, Devon Kershaw, and Perianne Jones - didn't make the heats.
The four-man Canadian World Cup Team we've come to know over the years is back at it again, and has been training for the last two weeks with four other top domestic skiers -- Perianne Jones, Emily Nishikawa, Graeme Killick, and Jesse Cockney. This week, most of the team will test its stuff with the best of them at the World Cup opener in Kuusamo, Finland.
Regulars for the last week in Gällivare, the Canadians put themselves in the mix in Saturday's classic sprints with Perianne Jones winning the women's final, Alex Harvey taking second to Russia's Sergey Ustiugov in the men's final, Lenny Valjas placing fourth and Jess Cockney bringing it home in sixth.