December 07, 2013 (Lillehammer, Norway) – Canada’s Alex Harvey was the top North American finisher with a solid 16th-place finish in the men’s 15km CL individual start in the new Lillehammer on a windy, cold (-10C) day as Norway’s Paal Golberg scored his first WCup win today in front of a home crowd.

Alex Harvey (CAN) © NordicFocus.

Golberg’s took the victory by 14.2s ahead of second-placed Alexey Poltroranin (KAZ) and his teammate Didrik Toenseth (NOR) in third. Swedish aces Marcus Hellner and Johan Olsson were 4th and 5th respectively.

Harvey was the lone North American in the points which augurs well for his progression but in fact he was a bit surprised that he did so well as he found that the course didn’t really suit his classic strengths.

Devon Kershaw (CAN) © NordicFocus.

“I’m happy with my result as it was a pretty intimidating course that didn’t play to my strengths – all striding and climbing with no flats other than 200m in the stadium – so given all of that and the early season I feel pretty good to bounce back from Kuusamo… and I’m happy with my day.”

“My skis were good…it was minus 6 so I don’t think anyone had bad skis but noone had amazing fast skis either so it was a pretty fair game for everybody.”

Head Coach Justin Wadsworth added that Harvey’s good result was even more encouraging given that Olympic spots are on the line so lots of skiers are hungry.

Kris Freeman (USA) © NordicFocus.

Fellow Canucks and teammates Ivan Babikov (CAN), Devon Kershaw (CAN), and Jesse Cockney (CAN) finished 35th, 56th, and 68th, respectively. The US team skiers were also out of the points with Noah Hoffman in 41st while Kris Freeman and Michael Sinnott (USA) placed 75th and 81st respectively.

Jesse Cockney (CAN) © NordicFocus.

Len Valjas took a break to rest up for Sunday’s relay as he’ll be leading off with Harvey second followed by Babikov 3rd and Kershaw the team’s anchor. “It’s going to be tough and the course favours offset skating which isn’t great for my leg,” said Harvey, “And with my classic result today we decided to switch things around as I normally race the last leg.”

For the Americans it’s Andy Newell leading off followed by Kris Freeman and then Noah Hoffman takes over with Simi Hamilton skiing the last leg for the red, white and blue.

Final podium (l-r) Toenseth 3rd s, Goldberg 1st, Poltoranin 2nd © NordicFocus.

Results

1. Paal Golberg (NOR) 35:00.0
2. Alexey Poltoranin (KAZ) +14.2
3. Didrik Toenseth (NOR) +15.5
4. Marcus Hellner (SWE) +20.2
5. Johan Olsson (SWE) +21.4
16. Alex Harvey (CAN) +50.2
35. Ivan Babikov (CAN) +1:23.6
41. Noah Hoffman (USA) +1:31.9
56. Devon Kershaw (CAN) +2:03.7
68. Jesse Cockney (CAN) +2:44.2
75. Kris Freeman (USA) +3:33.3
81. Michael Sinnott (USA) +5:06.0

Complete results are available HERE.