March 3, 2012 (Lahti, Finland) – WCup leader Dario Cologna (SUI) took another decisive win in the men’s 30km Skiathlon in Lahti on Saturday but for North American fans the day belonged to Canada with Alex Harvey scoring bronze on the podium, while his team mate, Devon Kershaw, animated the race grabbing the first three of four top bonus points for a total of 63 points.

“It was a good race today for me. Every time I am on the podium it’s good,” said Harvey in a team release. “With 90 skiers on the start line the race was tight especially in the corners. I had to be careful, but luckily nobody crashed before me. I like mass starts, I like the adrenaline.”

Kershaw was on fire early in the classic portion seeming to be on a mission as he charged to the front easily taking the first 15 bonus points at the 5.6km mark. Harvey was never far behind and on the second bonus at 13.1km the two Canadians surged to the front going 1-2 across the line taking 15 and 10 bonus points respectively.

The two Canucks continued their assault into the exchange with Harvey exiting first but the pack was not far behind. Kershaw asserted himself again at the 18.9km mark for another 15 points but his efforts would soon take their toll and a freak crash on the downhill into the stadium involving Sweden’s Johan Olsson took them both down. Kershaw recovered quickly but the crash cost both skiers valueable momentum,

As the pace quickened at the front Cologna made his move around the 20km mark as a group of five skiers began to pull away. Chasing behind Harvey was able to hold the pace as Kershaw began to fade and now there were 10 skiers in contention with five others including Kershaw dangling off the back.

“It was really tight, but you have to stay on top of your game,” Harvey explained. “I tried to stay out front between five and 10th spot, and on the outside on corners. The key is to be able to react if something happens.”

After the 26.4km final bonus won by Eugeni Dementiev (RUS), the WCup leader Cologna attacked and got away on his own as his move surprised the group. Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Sjur Roethe lead the charge to catch the Swiss skier with Harvey in the mix in 4th leaving the others behind.

The race for the final podium spots was on as the strong Cologna would not be caught. Harvey followed the two Norwegians and then attacked and passed Roethe hoping to catch Sundby in the final run to the finish but he ran out of track and settled for third earning the fifth podium finish of his three-year career on the World Cup circuit.

“We are still recovering from our altitude camp, but I feel in good shape, I just feel I don’t have the speed that I usually have which is normal after being at altitude,” added the 23-year-old skier from St-Ferréol-les-Neiges, QC.

Harvey moved up one spot to sixth overall on the World Cup while Kershaw in third is now only 78 points behind Petter Northug (NOR) in second as he extended his lead over Sweden’s Marcus Hellner in 4th to 204 points.

Also racing for Canada on Saturday was Ivan Babikov in 36th while Kevin Sandau did not finish.

Kris Freeman, who had a solid classic leg in 21st at the transition, could not hold the pace in the skate section ending up as the top Americans in 42nd. Team mate Noah Hoffman, who had stellar results at the U23 Worlds in Ezurum, Turkey, placed 49th, Michael Sinnott was 75th and Sylvan Ellefson was 81st.

Full results HERE.
WCup overall HERE.