December 12, 2009 (Davos, Switzerland) – Kris Freeman (USA) scored a fabulous, career best, 7th place finish in the men’s 15km individual skate World Cup at Davos on Saturday working his way up through the ranks at each of the timing checkpoints with a time of 36:31.0 at 36.2s off the winner Matti Heikinnen (Fin) in 35:54.8.

Canada’s Devon Kershaw signaled the Canucks are back making the top 10 with a 9th place finish at 39.0s and a final time of 36:33.8. Kershaw was with the leaders in 5th place up to the 11km mark but lost a few spots heading into the finish, a great result for the the Canadian team who have had a rough start to the season losing head coach Inge Braten following a freak ski accident at the WCup in Kussamo, Finland – Braten is recovering well following hip surgery.

“It feels really good. I tried to ski like I did in Kuusamo. I just went out conservatively and was able to really take it in,” the USA’s Freeman said. “I’d like to be able to take a little more, but I’m pretty happy with my fitness right now and it’s definitely fun to race like this.” According to Freeman, pacing was the most important thing he could do in the race. The xc skier wants to continue working on his fitness so that come February, he will have the stamina to do well throughout the entire race at the 2010 Games.

“I went out the first lap and tried to keep it really controlled because the altitude can catch up with you. I just need to get a little bit more before the Olympics, but I’ve got time,” Freeman commented. Freeman also had some excitement in the day as he raced on new skis that helped his results. “It’s really cool when they come up with new stuff to race on that’s better than all the stuff you’ve got,” he added.

And how about the French team?! Laurence Manificat led his squad taking 3rd spot on the podium while his team mates followed in 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th! It was a historical finish for France, overshadowing Heikinnen’s win – Heikinnen takes over the distance leader’s jersey and the overall WCup jersey. Marcus Hellner from Sweden was 2nd on the day in 36:09.2. “The conditions were beautiful – sun and snow – and the course was tough,” said FIS XC Race Director, Jurg Capol.

An exhausted Kershaw said, “I worked so incredibly hard for that today. I had to go all out and then some. I pushed really hard for it and I needed that really badly. I try not to focus on results, but it has been such a bad start with all kinds of things going on that I didn’t know what to expect. I paid the price today, but that was a great race for me no matter what time of the year it is.”

“We had such a good training week last week and Dave Wood did such a fantastic job of guiding us through our problems and getting our team’s focus back mentally on the job we have to do,” added Kershaw. “We had a strong day today and now we are so excited as a team to keep in touch with Canada’s Olympic Trials that start today back home [in Sovereign Lake BC], and find out who the first person that will be joining us in Vancouver-Whistler. We are very excited for that and wish them all luck.”

Canada’s Ivan Babikov recovering from a bout of sickness finished a respectable 26th with George Gray back in the mix also finishing strong in 28th. Top Canadian contender Alex Harvey placed 34th showing improvement as well. The USA’s Lars Flora was disqualified but we have no details at this time.

Men’s 15km Individual Free full results here.
Men’s Overall FIS WCup Distance Standings here.
Men’s WCup Overallhere.

Results (brief)

Men

1. Matti Heikkinen (Fin) 35:54.8
2. Marcus Hellne (Swe) 36:09.2
3. Maurice Manificat (Fra) 36:10.7
4. Emmanuel Jonnier (Fra) 36:24.9
5. Vincent Vittoz (Fra) 36:25.9
6. Robin Duvillard (Fra) 36:28.4
7. Kris Freeman (USA) 36:31.0
8. Marc Gallard (Fra) 36:32.6
9. Devon Kershaw (Can) 36:33.8
10. Pietro Piller Cottrer (Ita) 36:35.4

26. Ivan Babikov (Can) 37.01.6
28. George Grey (Can) 37.05.
34. Alex Harvey (Can) 37.13.7
DSQ Lars Flora (USA)