February 22, 2010   (Whistler, BC) – The men’s race saw Norway re-establish itself on the field of

play with a gold medal performance from Petter Northug and Oeystein Pettersen, skiing the 1.6km course six times for a total of 9.6km in a time 19:01:0. They held back on occasion and allowed the Germans, Russians and Canadians to set the pace which resulted in the German team of Tim Tscharnke and Axel Teichmann looking as if they would take the gold as they so dominated the final.

But they had to settle for the silver as they were unable to answer Northug’s final sprint to line, to finish 1.3 seconds back. Russia’s Nikolay Morilov and Alexey Petukhov broke away with the other two northern European countries for the bronze at 1.5 seconds back. But it was the amazing performance of the young Canadian team of Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw who sprinted to a fourth place photo finish result against Kazakhstan at 6.3 seconds back. The Czech Republic took sixth 6.5 seconds back. The US team of Torin Koos and Andrew Newell were 9^th at 20.6 seconds behind.

The Norwegian men’s results thus far at the Games were conspicuously sparse until this event that saw Northug and Pettersen skied a conservative 18:48:5 in heat #1 in the semi-final. Russia finished ahead of them in 18:47:6 and Germany behind in 18:48:5, so all three would move ahead to the final – and in the end take the top four spots. Canada finished fourth, 1.6 seconds back in that heat and, like the women’s team, had to wait to see who the four fastest teams outside of the top six would be before they could be assured a berth in the final.

To give perspective on just how fast and skilled this Canadian team is, in the semi-final they finished 6.7 seconds ahead of Finland, a powerhouse in this sport for over one hundred years, and 43.5 seconds ahead of them in the final. Finland, like many other teams, met with at least one crash on the very technical corners that remained icy or rutted for the men’s race.

The Czech Republic raced their final race in their semi-final heat and were chasing Belarus, who were leading going into the sprint when Belarus’ Leanid Karneyenka made a wrong turn and skied into the transition zone instead of over to the finish line. The team, including the coach were devastated. Meanwhile the Czech Republic went the right way and had a blistering time of 18:43:1, which was 18 seconds faster than Norway’s gold medal time.

The USA made the same mistake as the Czechs, racing too hard in the semi, coming in second just 0.6 seconds behind, while France took third in that heat at 0.7 seconds back. It looked like they were strong enough for a podium finish in the final too, but had a fall in the transition zone that set them back considerably.

The semi-final results put Russia, Norway, Germany, Canada and Finland into the final from heat #1 and the Czech Republic, USA, France, Kazakhstan and Italy in from heat #2 to create an extraordinarily exciting final. Despite many attempts, no one was able to get away from the lead pack until Tscharnke of Germany gained two seconds on Canada and three seconds on Norway during the last lap. Soon after this Petukhov, Northug and Tscharnke made a break, with Tscharnke leading until Northug moved it up a gear, went around the German and came into the straight away with just over a second to spare by the finish.

“He [teammate Pettersen] did a great job on the last leg and gave me a great position,” said Northug. “I wanted this medal. It’s been a little bit up and down here so now I have a gold medal and I am happy.” Pettersen added “today my job was to stay in the group and give Petter the best possible position. I didn’t have anymore to give.”

Despite Teichmann’s podium finishes in the World Cup circuit, he has not won an Olympic medal before. “It’s amazing to win the first Olympic medal-for me it is a dream come true. It has been a dream for me for the last eight years. The race was amazing. Tim did a great job. He chased some guys and gave us some seconds. I got an opportunity of three or four seconds in the last lap and I did everything I could, but Petter was too strong. He’s a very good athlete.

“It’s not a matter of losing gold, it’s a matter of winning a medal. All I thought about was to win a medal and go to the Medal’s Plaza and I made it.” Teammate Tscharnke had the same job in the race as Norway’s Pettersen. “My job was to work for Alex and to bring him into a good position. I am happy with the result.”

Russian skier Morilov won his bronze in the team sprint the same day that sister Natalia Korosteleva won the bronze in the women’s team sprint. “I’m very happy about it, it feels great. I only saw her for two seconds but overall I’m very happy.” Teammate Petukhov added, “As soon as we started, we hoped for a medal so we were prepared for it and wanted to make it happen.”

Meanwhile Canadians Kershaw and Harvey could not stop smiling once they had started to recover. “I was a little bit nervous” admitted Kershaw. “Yesterday I was so relaxed and so laid-back – I believe this is my strongest event. But as soon as I lay down – I’m reading Andre Agassi’s biography – whew! It took a little while to fall asleep yesterday.” Then the nerves surfaced, but Kershaw knew to stick with his routine. “I had my usual three thick pieces of bread and two boiled eggs at breakfast.”

On describing the team Kershaw commented. “We are definitely skiing better than a lot of people thought. But I mean, I spend more time with these guys than I do with Chandra,” he said, referring to girlfriend Chandra Crawford on the women’s team. “There are days when the skies turn nasty and your legs feel like rocks and you don’t want to go train, and it’s guys like him [Harvey] that help you get out there. Alex Harvey is the most talented skier I’ve ever trained with or raced with.”

Harvey said they “had been thinking about this event for the last six months – I knew I had the endurance, but I knew those guys were fast sprinters. I was going as fast as I could and then recovered [in the transition area while Kershaw did his leg].” He was asked if the team would go for a beer now that the race was over, but replied, “No, maybe we’ll go for a chocolate drink.”

The Canadian men’s team has progressively edged higher up in the standings. Ivan Babikov was eighth in the 15 km freestyle, fifth in the 30 km pursuit, with George Grey placing 8th and Harvey 9th. Today Harvey and Kershaw were fourth. When they were asked what was next. Harvey replied, “When it gets hard I think we can pull a rabbit out of the hat.” Kershaw added, “We’ve got our work cut out for us. We can’t rest on our laurels.”

Full results here.

Results

1. Norway (Oeystein Pettersen; Petter Northug) 19:01.0
2. Germany (Tim Tscharnke; Axel Teichmann) +1.3
3. Russian Federation (Nikolay Morilov; Alexey Petukhov) +1.5
4. Canada (Devon Kershaw; Alex Harvey) +6.3
5. Kazakhstan (Nikolay Chebotko; Alexey Poltaranin) +6.5
6. Czech Republic (Dusan Kozisek; Martin Koukal) +12.8
7. France (Vincent Vittoz; Cyril Miranda) +17.7
8. Italy (Cristian Zorzi; Renato Pasini) +20.1
9. United States (Torin Koos; Andrew Newell) +20.6
10. Finland (Lasse Paakkonen; Ville Nousiainen) +49.8