February 21, 2013 (Val di Fiemme, Italy) – Canada’s Alex Harvey led the way for North America in the opening event of the 2013 FIS Nordic World Championships with a historic bronze medal. The 24 year-old St-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que. skier became the first Canadian male to win an individual medal at the Nordic World Ski Championships. This is the third Nordic Worlds medal in the history of the Canadian program.

Russian Nikita Kruikov added World Champion to his Olympic title he earned three years ago. Kriukov outsprinted Norweigen stud, Petter Northug, for gold in quite the same fashion as he did in Kuusamo earlier this season, demonstrating incredible speed, and taking the crown as the new best finisher in the sport.

Harvey started off the day with a modest performance in the qualification, cutting it a bit close for comfort in 26th place. In his quarterfinal heat he came back from what looked like an almost certain knockout to power through on the flats to win the heat.

“I was a little rusty after not sprinting in a while, and I simply didn’t remember the pace that I was supposed to take in the qualification,” said Harvey post-race. He battled difficult waxing conditions, but seemed to take advantage of less kick than most skiers.

“I usually prefer to have less kick, and we have been really focused on the final turn and last downhill into the stadium here in Val di Fiemme, and it’s really important to have fast skis there onto the flat.

“It was even more of an advantage on the flats actually, because when you are double poling that hard you’re really putting a lot of pressure on the pocket through your toes, so I was really fast there with less grip.”

 

The only disasters of the day came from two of the top-3 qualifiers. Anssi Pentsinen of Finland went down when Northug made contact with him in the quarterfinal, and Kazak Alexey Poltoranin broke his pole on the support of the timing wand out of the start, ending his medal hopes in the semis.

The Americans were led by Andy Newell in 21st place. While the Vermonter had a strong 7th place qualification, he failed to advance though the quarterfinals. Difficult waxing conditions plagued the American team in the later part of the day.

“Today was kind of a bummer. I felt strong, and had lots of kick during the qualification, but conditions continued to change throughout the day. We did some good testing before the heats and thought we had it pretty dialed, but once I was racing the skis were definitely slick.

“I think I still had a shot going into the stadium but did not slingshot Strandval very well. I kind of hesitated and tucked back in behind him instead of really going for it and that sure killed my speed. “

Simi Hamilton, who has been showing good form lately showed promise, almost qualifying in 34th despite battling a chest cold. He hopes to be back to full strength in time for the team sprint.

Erik Bjornsen at his World Championship debut, who finished 51st for the United States, also had similar waxing challenges. “The conditions were so tricky to wax for, it was hard to decide whether I wanted to go for the good kick or the good glide, I may have made the wrong decision and I think that showed in my finishing result.”

With the exception of the historic result of Harvey, the rest of the news from the Canadian camp was not as bright as hope. Lenny Valjas and Devon Kershaw shockingly failed to qualify and finished 40th and 46th respectively, with Kershaw shaking his head crossing the finish line indicating waxing problems.

Final podium (l-r) Northug 2nd, Kriukov 1st, Harvey 3rd. [P] Nordic Focus