Kershaw, Harvey win gold at worlds

Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey have made Canadian cross-country ski history by winning Canada’s first-ever world championship gold medal.

Harvey defeated Norweigan world champion Ola Vigen Hattestad after an epic double poling battle in the final metres of the classic-ski sprint relay (two man) to clinch the gold, shocking a raucous home crowd of 50,000 in Oslo Wednesday (March 2).

The young Canadian nipped the favoured Norweigan by two tenths of a second with a come-from-behind win, finishing with a time of 19:10.0.

“It is a dream come true and to do this in Norway is amazing,” said Canmore’s Kershaw, who is in the midst of a dream season on the world cup circuit.

The relay proved to be a seesaw battle with the Canadians slingshotting from the back of the 10 team pack to engaging in a vicious battle for top spot in the final two laps.

Kershaw stuck to the rear during the team’s first lap. He was in seventh spot by the time he handed off to Harvey, who crept into third place, two seconds behind Sweden’s Emil Joensson.

The Swedes upped the tempo on the third lap and Kershaw maintained fourth position for the Canadians until Norway’s Peter Northug made his first push. The Canmore skier dropped back to seventh before the exchange when the pace slowed again.

In his second last lap, Harvey made a push to the front, and sat in first place with a two second lead before handing off to Kershaw for his last lap. Kershaw ended up pursuing Finnish skier Sami Jauhojaervi on a big climb, as the two began to gap the Russian and Norwegian skiers.

Norway caught Canada at the exchange, as Harvey found himself neck and neck with Hattestad and the Finnish skier with one lap to go. The Finn tried to block Harvey, however, the Canadian narrowly made it through and set his sights on the front running Norwegian. Double poling to the finish, Harvey overpowered the top Norwegian, taking the gold in a photo finish.

“Devon handed off to me in a perfect position. I just skied my stride and picked my lines,” said Harvey. “With 300 metres to go, I knew where I wanted to be on the last downhill. I have been practicing it all week and then I just went as hard as I could to the finish. It was just incredible with all those people going crazy.”

The two were escorted immediately after the race to meet the King of Norway. Tens of thousands of ski-crazy Norweigans went silent after witnessing their champions go down to the victorious Canucks.

“The Norwegians have like 100 world championship medals and we won our first today for Canada. To do it at the birthplace of the sport is incredible,” Harvey said.

“It was like if the U.S. had won the hockey game at the Vancouver Olympics,” Canadian head coach Justin Wadsworth said. “It’s awesome. We all worked so hard for this. It feels amazing.”

The day before the sprint relay, Wadsworth strategically pulled Kershaw and Harvey out of the 15 kilometre classic ski – Kershaw’s favourite race – to give them an extra day of rest.

“This is as close to winning an Olympic gold medal as you can get without being at the Olympics,” Wadsworth said. “We put all our eggs in one basket and pulled it off.”

Canmore’s Sara Renner is the last Canadian to win a world championship medal, having captured a bronze in 2005.

“It’s pretty unbelievable. They will go down in history in Norway. Those boys will be rock stars over there,” Renner said.

The win is yet another sign of Canada’s rise in the cross-country ski world.

“We’ve been able to rise as a nordic nation, and almost a powerhouse. We have some good programs that help us get the most from our athletes,” Renner said.

She credits Canmore for playing a role in developing strong international athletes, due to great facilities and great coaches.

“This is a community that nurtures champions.”

It’s unlikely Kershaw and Harvey will make it to the Ski Nationals in Canmore next week, however, Renner said they deserve a proper welcome when they return to the Bow Valley near the end of March.

The Canadian Women’s team of Dasha Gaiazova of Banff and Perianne Jones of Almonte, ON finished sixth in the team sprint.