April 15, 2010 – I’ve now watched the CTV videos of Devon Kershaw at the Olympic 50km race twice and the last 5kms 4-5 times to try and figure out if Devon was right about his evaluation of his efforts – definitely proud, but very much wondering what if (with a lot of emphasis on the what if). I would offer some advice to Devon – do what I have done. Go back and look at the tapes a number of times and see what you can learn – click here.

Essentially, I say it this way, Kershaw did a great job of getting himself in position to be in that lead group of 12 to 14 skiers, but like Petter Northug – and you’ll see him do it in the 50km and in many races – Devon has to go to the front and make an effort to take control of the race, to be in position to win a medal. Realistically, the position where Kershaw skied during the last 1-2km left him out of the medals.

It’s very apparent that he had skis equal to all the other skiers, and in the final 300-400 meters Kershaw was as fast, or faster, in sprinting to the finish than many of the skiers ahead of him – but he was coming from too far back. In the last minute Kershaw was 50-75 meters behind the leaders and involved with too many other skiers forcing him to change tracks way to often. While he was doing that, moving laterally, the front five skiers were going straight ahead to the finish line also at very high speed.

At no time during the 50km did I see Kershaw make an effort to control the race – he needs to do this, to learn how to do it, and be comfortable with it. Concentrate on what’s needed to pull this off. Kershaw had an overall race strategy, and a good one, but not a finishing strategy.

Canmore Rumblings – After such a super year you would think that everybody at Cross Country Canada, would be taking the active rest period into high gear for the next month. But that’s not the case. I hear that some skiers on the team (two in particular), have been burning the ears off of Tom Holland, CCC High Performance Director, and Davin MacIntosh, the new CEO of CCC, to re-organize the coaching staff. There’s talk of Euros coming on board, downgrading Dave Wood’s involvement, and the need for a Technique Coach. Yet this has been the most successful season of the last 12 years for this program in CCC’s history – which was taken over by Wood after the Olympic fiasco in Nagano in 1998.

All skiers on current team saw their success developed by this program and I can’t see why it would not continue to serve them well. I hope that following these deliberations CCC stays true to a Canadian staffing of the program. Coach Wood has brought innovation, direction, high altitude focus, and most importantly success to the program.

Be careful with any changes, not everyone can be a Head Coach. This happened to the US program in the 70s and a very good US team flopped at the 1980 Olympics, as the new Head Coach, was in over his head. Following such success, I would be very reluctant to listen to any athletes about major changes, but feedback and a  rehash would be welcome as the planning moves forward.

Technique At The Olympics – Watching all of these mass start races at the Olympics and seeing the skiers lined up in packs as they ski along defines technique from style. Generally they all look pretty much the same, but yet a bit different. I find it very interesting that Norway, the country that claims to have invented the sport, has delivered another overall World Cup winner in Northug, yet technically he doesn’t ski all that well. For that matter, [Bjorn] Daehlie and [Vegard] Ulvang were not the greatest technicians either. Don’t get me wrong, they just wouldn’t be my model for technique, but all three definitely demonstrated other aspects of how to be the top skier in the tracks – the ability to define going to the limit to win! As I watched the North Americans perform, they ski as well as the rest of the world – the difference is that simple for me.

Twitter-Twatter – From Ivan Babikov… I guess Doping Control people never get a Spring Break. Kinda stupid that we get tested in the off season as well.

Be sure to try the CTV address above for Kershaw’s 50km and just punch the replay button.

Talk to you soon.