February 25, 2013 (Val di Fiemme, Italy) – Canada’s Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw, the defending Team Sprint world champs, put on a valiant display of come-back prowess following a broken pole suffered Kershaw. But the boot of Kazakstan’s Alexey Poltoranin was first across the line in a classic photo-finish lunge over Harvey that left the Canucks off the final podium at the 2013 FIS Nordic World Championships in Val di Fiemme.

The day belonged to the powerful Russian duo of Alexey Petukhov and Nikita Kriukov who claimed the gold over Sweden as Kriukov’s kick over the final 50 meters was untouchable by Sweden’s speed king, Emil Joensson, who was paired with Marcus Hellner for the silver.

“We were fourth at the Olympics, and now fourth here at World Championships and that is hard to take,” said Harvey. Kershaw who broke a pole on his second leg set back the Canadians to 9th, but Kershaw kept his cool and got a new pole from head coach Justin Wadsworth.

“I had to ski quite a while with one pole, but I was still calm and didn’t panic,” said Kershaw. “Our strategy was to stay out front today, but that obviously didn’t happen. We were calm where we were. I knew we had lots of time and everything was still fine.”

On his final leg Kershaw tagged Harvey in 5th and the savvy Quebec skier had gotten back into a medal vying position before the final descent, but needed to break the explosive Kriukov before the decisive sprint. Instead, he hesitated slightly, and then tried to go head to head with Kriukov, Joensson, and Poltoranin on the final stretch.

“I tried to make a move on that final climb, and I had it, but I just wasn’t aggressive enough,” reflected Harvey. “I should have moved in front of Kriukov. We wanted a podium today and didn’t get it. That is disappointing.”

Coach Justin Wadsworth remains optimistic, and ready to move forward. “Good day, but no medal. The guys did all they could and now our focus is a medal in the relay.”

The US team of Erik Bjornsen and Andy Newell didn’t fare as well as hoped, and didn’t make it past the semis ending up in 14th place despite Newell clocking in the third fastest time on his third lap. Surprisingly, the Norwegian pairing of Paal Goldberg and Petter Northug also failed to advance to the final, finishing 8 seconds back in the semi.

Full results HERE.
Full results with splits HERE.