Friday's World Cup team sprint did not go as Alex Harvey or Devon Kershaw had planned with a late crash derailing their podium run. The two settled for fifth in the men's final, Lenny Valjas and Jesse Cockney placed 10th, and all the Canadians were looking forward to Saturday.
A team sprint win by Kazakhs Denis Volotka and Nikolay Chebotko was not what thousands of face-painted, flag-clad Canadians came to see Friday - but it was what they got.
The World Cup's transatlantic swing has upended the typical order on the circuit, and for the first time in years, North Americans will enjoy the perks of racing on their home turf.
It has been 27 years since the World Cup landed in Eastern Canada. The big show is back, setting up in the front yard of the Quebec Parliament building. The unique course features a small jump, and the loop should favor American Kikkan Randall.
Québec’s seen pretty much everything when it comes to sporting events, but cross-country skiing city sprints? That'll be a new one. Event-production company Gestev has been working to make it happen, covering the course several days before the Québec World Cup kicks off Friday.
Less than 2 months before the Sprint Québec presented by Québecor which will host the FIS Cross-Country World Cup presented by Viessmann (Press release) Québec City, Thursday, October 11, 2012 – December 6 to 9, winter will be on our doorstep and downtown Québec City will be dressed in its finest white for the Sprint Québec which will host the FIS Cross-Country World Cup. For the very first time in Québec City, the top cross-country...
Most days of the week, Alex Harvey hits the road to Québec City, where he works out with the Pierre-Harvey National Training Centre, undergoes physio treatments and studies law at Laval University. The drive along route 440 from Mont Sainte-Anne (MSA) to Québec’s capital is about 45 kilometers and lined with views worth pulling over for. Just outside the city, there’s Montmorency Falls, the province’s largest waterfall and 30 meters (98 feet) higher than Niagara...
Drenched in sweat, Alex Harvey stood surrounded by fans, media and children. He couldn’t have escaped the swarm at Mont Sainte-Anne if he wanted to. People wanted his autograph, answers and face in their photos. Two months after the masses flocked to the Québec ski area to see their hometown World Cup skier win three straight races at Canadian Ski Nationals, life for Harvey had mellowed. On Tuesday afternoon, the 23-year-old was headed to Laval...
QUEBEC CITY – Two tiny specks charging toward the finish, Graham Nishikawa and Jesse Cockney appeared to merge into a single lane, and then suddenly jolted in opposite directions. Whatever made them move must have been significant, and it could have explained why Nishikawa lost his lead and ultimately the classic team sprint at the Canadian Ski National Championships on Saturday. Turns out it was just water in the tracks on a balmy afternoon at...
QUEBEC CITY – As Alana Thomas stood in the finish pen on the Plains of Abraham and looked back beyond the line, she smiled as Perianne Jones cruised down the final stretch. The Canadian National Team member was going to win by a mile – or maybe a kilometer, figuratively speaking in Canadian terms. While Jones didn’t quite have a full lap on the 11 other teams in the open classic relay at the Canadian...
This year, the Haywood Canadian National Championships have been pushed back a week to accommodate a special group – Canada’s World Cup elite, which are returning in force to put on a show for the home crowd in Quebec. With Alex Harvey, Devon Kershaw, Chandra Crawford and all the major Canadian stars slated to participate, the fields will be some of the deepest in North America all season. The Canadian World Cup squad has turned...
The FIS World Cup is returning to Canada in 2012. After a two year hiatus, International Ski Federation (FIS) Cross Country Skiing World Cup competitions will resume in North America, as a brand-new Quebec City site will be unveiled before the show heads west to the Rockies and Canmore, Alberta. According to Norbert Meier, Chair of the Alberta World Cup Society, there will be World Cup races held on December 8th and 9th in Canmore,...