February 20, 2011 (Drammen, Norway) – Canada’s Alex Harvey showed his other side on Sunday demonstrating a powerful sprint kick winning both his quarter and semi final heats to land in the men’s 1.6km freestyle sprint final against some of the world’s best sprinters including Sweden’s Emil Joensson and Norway’s Petter Northug.

The day began without much fanfare for Harvey as he qualified 22nd while teammate and World Cup rookie, Len Valjas of Toronto, turned heads again with a 4th place qualifying time behind US veteran speedster Andy Newell. Joensson topped the field followed by Italian fast man Federico Pellegrino.

“This great day actually didn’t start so great. I felt tired in the warm up and was pretty sluggish in the qualifier,” Harvey confided in a post race interview with SkiTrax. “Kinda like yesterday. I didn’t expect to feel good anyway so I was happy with 22nd in the qualification.”

In the quarter final heats Valjas played his cards well placing second behind Northug to advance to the semis. The young Canadian kept his cool and bided his time before unleashing his massive kick at the finish holding off all challengers.

Harvey executed superb tactics as well grabbing the victory in his heat with Loris Frasnelli (ITA) in second. Pellegrino was not so lucky breaking a pole at the start, and while he received a replacement pole and recovered, his rhythm was off.

American Newell took the lead early in his quarter final – not often the preferred position – and looked very strong but didn’t have the gas to close it down at the finish ending up 4th behind surprise winner Yuichi Onda from Japan, and did not advance as a lucky loser.

“Today wasn’t my best day, but I’m feeling strong and healthy so I’m not worried too much,” said Newell. “It was a very tactical race and you definitely had to save something for the long uphill finish. I chose to get out in front which probably hurt me in the end. I feel like the course in Oslo suits me much better so I’m still feeling confident going into Thursday.”

The Swedes continued to look strong with Joensson, Marcus Hellner and Mats Larsson all advancing to the semis. Northug and Joensson manhandled everyone in their heat as Valjas came fifth and was out – still a fine day for the rising Canadian sprint star finishing 9th, his best WCup result to date.

Valjas’ was the fastest heat and with a little more gas he might have made the final as both Larsson (4th) and Finland’s Martti Jylhae (3rd) advanced as the lucky losers.

Harvey delivered another strong result in his semi winning with Hellner in second as they eliminated both of the Italians Frasnelli and Pasini. The final match up included three Swedes, Northug from Norway, Jylhae from Finland and Canada’s Harvey.

“In the heats, the body was feeling better and better – kind of the goal of the weekend for me, race the body into racing mode,” said Harvey, “I had the same tactics throughout the day, chill at the back for the first 2/3 of the course and then start making some moves.”

In the final Harvey executed his race strategy again hanging back as Larsson did the work up front for Hellner and Joensson. Northug kept them in check and as Larsson faded at the half way point suddenly Jylhae attacked and took over the lead as Harvey watched from behind in 5th.

Over the final hill heading to the last turn before long finishing straight, Harvey positioned himself well on the inside and moved up into third behind Joensson in second with Jylhae still leading while Northug was breathing down his neck.

Then it was game on as they all dropped Jylhae and Joensson went to the front putting on the after burners while behind Harvey and Northug went head-to-head for second. Joensson could not be caught but Harvey was on fire and out-skied Northug for the silver and his third WCup career podium. Northug settled for third, Hellner finished 4th, Jylhae was fifth and Larsson was 6th.

Harvey’s first WCup podium came with George Grey in the team sprint at the Whistler WCup in Jan. 2009 and then later in March 2009 he won bronze again in the men’s 50km classic in Trondheim, Norway.

The Quebec skier, son of the legendary Pierre Harvey, demonstrated that like his teammate Devon Kershaw, he’s a top level all round athlete having also just won gold in the U23 men’s 30km pursuit recently in Otepaa, Estonia.

“I have a lot of speed and power in the final stretch every time so it was good to gain 1-2 spot in each heat,” concluded Harvey. “In the final, I did the same and really fought hard in the last 300m to go from 5th to second. I was very happy with the result and I’m excited for the World Championships.”

For Canada Stefan Kuhn finished 32nd, Phil Widmer placed 39th, and Devon Kershaw, of Sudbury, Ont., was 48th. The USA’s Simi Hamilton was 53rd and Lars Flora was 75th.

“It was a great day for both Alex and Lenny,” commented Canadian head coach Justin Wadsworth. “They know how to handle the pressure and we’ve had some amazing training camps leading up to this point. Stefan made the cut for our 4th sprint skier and all bodes well for the upcoming Worlds.”

Qualifications HERE.
Final results HERE.