January 21, 2008 (St. Jakob im Rosental, Austria) – Canada’s Alex Harvey won the junior 10km classic sprint in Austria yesterday with a time of 0:31:41.5, fast enough to finish 10th among the seniors. On Saturday, he finished second among the juniors in the 10km freestyle race behind Germany’s Philipp Marschall who posted a time of 0:29:42.6. Harvey was just 0:01:10.3 off Marschall’s pace, again putting him in 10th spot overall. The senior winner in Saturday’s freestyle race was Kay Bochert of Germany with a time of 0:29:11.9 while fellow German,Tom Reichelt, won Sunday’s classic race with a time of 0:30:32.1.

“I left Quebec City on Thursday afternoon,” Harvey told SkiTrax. “I caught up with the rest of my team on Friday and then Saturday I saw the first race! I was still affected by jet lag, but nonetheless I’m happy with my race. Sunday saw the second race and, while still affected by jet lag it went well. We returned to Ramsau [Austria] on Sunday afternoon where we will stay until Friday. Next weekend, we will compete in the Austrian championships to finalize our preparation the World Junior U23 Championships that take place from February 4-8, in Sczcyrk, Poland.”

Other Canadians competing here included Frederic Touchette, who finished 32nd overall on Sunday, Len Valjas, who finished 36th, Julien Nury, who finished 44th, David Greer (54th), and Charles Brassard (65th). No Americans were entered in the event.

The women’s 5km freestyle and classic races were both won by Germany’s Manuela Henkel, posting a time of 0:15:42.8 in the freestyle. No North American women feature on the start list of either race.