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.
Photos from an exciting day of World Cup racing in Davos, Switzerland. Take some lessons in classic technique from the best!
Martin Johnsrud Sundby took off like a rocket on Friday and never looked back. The 29-year-old Norwegian had a 32 second headstart in the 5th stage of the Tour de Ski, a 35 k freestyle pursuit race, and he took full advantage of it.
The Tour de Ski's four-time defending champion Justyna Kowalczyk was conspicuously absent on Saturday from this season’s Tour opener, the women's 3-kilometer freestyle prologue in Oberhof, Germany. Ultimately, she withdrew from the Tour because she and her coaches deem it unfair. "Everything was organized so as Justyna Kowalczyk had no chance to win the Tour de Ski," her coach said.
Out of 17 Norwegians in Saturday's World Cup 15 k classic race, Pål Golberg wasn't the favorite. The 23 year old ended up notching his first World Cup victory in Lillehammer, and lesser-known teammate Didrik Tønseth surprised (himself) in third.
Lukas Bauer's (CZE) masterfully paced race ousted Eldar Roenning (NOR) from the victors chair today in Kuusamo, Finland, allowing the veteran Czech to claim his first victory since 2010. Bauer's pace in the 10 k classic race saw his split times trailing throughout the first 8 k to both Roenning and Dmitriy Japarov (RUS), before accelerating in the final kilometers to best grab the victory time by 2.4 seconds.
Liz Stephen tossed out all ideas of pacing and went for it in Saturday's 10 k, capturing sixth in the freestyle FIS race, and Noah Hoffman listened to his "patience" cues to end up seventh in the men's 15 k free in Beitostølen, Norway. Also on the USST, Holly Brooks came closer to the top 10 in 12th.