February 24, 2014  (Krasnaya Polyana, Russia) – It was Russia’s day to shine as Alexander Legkov lead a Russian sweep in the men’s 50km FR, the final cross-country event of the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi in front of adoring fans who went wild. Legkov led a four-way sprint to the line, ahead of compatriots Maxim Vylegzhanin and Ilia Chernousov who raced to a photo finish, snatching the bronze from Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway.

Alex Harvey was the top Canadian, finishing in 19th place at 45s behind the gold. Ivan Babikov aka, ‘the Bulldog’, racing his third Olympics had his best 50km result finishing directly behind Harvey in 20th.

The day also belonged to American Noah Hoffman, who demonstrated his skiing panache as he mixed it up with the stars skiing a tremendous race at the front for the first 45km. The Hoff marked every move but as the pace heated up over the final 5km he was unable to respond and ended his stellar day in 26th.

“It was challenging for sure. My skis were awesome, so I owe a ton to my wax techs,” said Hoffman. “I was right where I wanted to be for 45k and definitely started to suffer when we all went into the ski exchange. That’s when the pace seemed to heat up and things strung out. That was at 30k, but I stayed in there and got back right where I wanted to be. I just didn’t have it in the last three or four kilometres, especially up the last hill.”

It was also a career-best day for Graeme Killick skiing into 28th, who forever will be able to say he skied in behind Swiss star, Dario Colgana, in 27th, while Killick’s teammate Jesse Cockney, finished 56th.

Non-starters today were Devon Kershaw (CAN) and Torin Koos (USA). Kershaw who was fifth in 50km at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics tweeted that his “lungs and health aren’t good enough after being sick for a week to start the 50km.”

Also not starting was Austrian Johannes Duerr, who tested positive for EPO, tarnishing the Austrian Ski Association reputation. Duerr, who was third overall at this year’s Tour de Ski, was eighth in the men’s Skiathlon at the Sochi Olympics.

The 50km race began predictably in a large pack, increasing in pace with each lap. Defending Olympic champion Peter Northug surprisingly was not a factor in today’s race sitting in the mid 20s for most of the race and ended up 18th. Nordic World Champion  Sweden’s, Johan Olsson, made a move at the 10km mark setting a strong early pace but fell back and ended up 9th.

Hoffman placed himself at the front of the pack by the 8km mark and was clearly on a mission and at the 18km mark, Anders Soedergren moved to the front keeping Sweden in the spotlight at the front, while the big favourites remained in close proximity. The Finland’s Lari Lehtonen took over as Hoffman kept pace.

Suddenly Legkov had a gap on the field at the 30km mark, sprinting ahead, but his intentions were soon made clear as he headed in to change his skis. The top skiers followed the trend taking the opportunity to change as did Harvey and Babikov who had great skis today being able to gain time on the downhills.

“In the first half of the race , Ivan and I had the best skis in the group. The waxers  really made up for the first half of the  championships,” said Harvey. “It helped us save a lot of energy.”

The exchange allowed for Finland’s Matti Heikkinen, to gain a 22s-lead as he did not change skis. A large chase group formed including pre-race favourites Cologna, Legkov, Roland Clara (Ita), Lukas Bauer (Cze) and others vying for a podium spot.

With Hoffman still hanging in, Heikkinen was reeled at the 40km mark as Legkov pushed the pace along with France’s Robin Duvillard. Harvey, Babikov and Northug did not look as strong as the question of how much was left in the tank would soon be answered.

Soedergren made another last ditch attempt at 45km to get away but Legkov was wary and had his own agenda as he Vylegzhanin, Duvillard and Sundby were close by. With the pace quickening Hoffman backed off as a lead group of 20-strong skiers formed and it still looked like it could be anyone’s race.

With just 2km to go, fate hit Cologna as he suddenly pulled off to the side with a broken ski, while Harvey, who had tripped over a discarded pole, was able to rejoin the group. A defeated Cologna switched his ski and made it to the finish in 27th.

Harvey explained the scenario, “Well, there’s the big downhill slope, then a small mostly-flat uphill stretch, Noah Hoffman broke his pole there, and he changed his pole in the zone – there’s a zone where there are white poles to grab, so he stuck his pole there, which is what everyone does, but I tripped on one of the white poles and fell on my butt. I lost about 10 seconds and came back to the group eventually. I saw Cologna break his ski right before the big uphill, that’s when I rejoined the group.”

“At the big uphill I was tired from catching up with the group. I knew Ivan is a good climber, so I tried to keep his rhythm and it helped. Then at the end, guys were dropping like flies as we caught up with 3-4 guys, including Gjerdalen, who is one of the best Norwegian climbers.”

With the final climb approaching Legkov and Vylegzhanin moved to the front as Sundby countered and Chernousov went as well leaving the others behind. Legkov crested the final hill first and coming into the finish it was a Russian navy blue streak as Legkov was unstoppable claiming the gold by 0.7s ahead of Vylegzhanin in a photo finish with Chernousov with Sundby in fourth for a Russian sweep, mirroring the Norwegians in the women’s 30km the day before.

Hoping for a top ten finish Harvey expanded on his race. “This was a course built for the Russians. Once I regained contact I knew I wouldn’t be on the podium but I would have been happy with a top 10. I was happy with my skiing, and skied well technically. Every upward slope I skied in zone 2 and let everyone pass me because I knew I would come back on the flats. I kept my energy for the last lap, but I had to use some energy on the flats to come back.”

Babikov, who was 38th in Torino and 33rd in Vancouver shared his thoughts on his best result in the Olympic 50km. “I felt really badly – to go through the pain for the last 25km, it wasn’t pleasant but I stuck in there. Today we had pretty good skis but Alex crashed, I had a broken pole at the beginning of the race and that didn’t help, but you can’t do much about it now right, we gave our 100%. I don’t think you think can say we’re happy. For our whole team it’s been a pretty tough couple of weeks and sometimes we didn’t feel great, sometimes things didn’t work.”

The USA’s Noah Hoffman, who had a stellar race, was hoping for more at the end but ran out of gas. “Twenty-sixth place is not what I’m looking for, but I think it’s moving in the right direction. I feel more comfortable right up near the front. I didn’t lead, which was definitely my plan not to lead. Maybe I would be a little better sitting a little further back in the pack, maybe getting a little better draft to conserve more. That’s something my coaches and I will discuss.”

American Brian Gregg skied with the main pack for the first half of the race and finished 51st, while teammate Kris Freeman crossed the line in 57th.

“The pace was pretty slow in the start up this big climb, but then the flat section it went really hard. We all sort of had an accordion effect,” commented Gregg. “I thought my skis were pretty good. My legs were a little bit heavy, so I just couldn’t quite be on that pace. This is the race I’ve been focusing on. Overall I felt pretty good. I would have liked to have been in that pack a little bit longer. I was with that main group for about 25k.”

Of his first 50km free Olympic experience he noted, “What an incredible thing to be here at the Olympics and to put it all out there on the course. I had a gap in front of me and a gap behind me, but I still gave it everything I could out there and I’m happy about that.”

As a last minute entry, veteran Freeman had to say this, “Well I didn’t find out I was racing until yesterday evening. The coaches and I had decided that I was too tired to race, so we were going to let the other guys go. But then two of them got sick. So I put a bib on and did the best I could.

“Because of where I’d been I didn’t have high expectations going into today. I’m disappointed with the results I’ve had at the Olympics. Today I went out and skied as fast as I could and that’s what I’m here to do. I think Noah was only a minute something out and that’s pretty good. He’s put up two World Cup wins this year in stages. He’s coming up rapidly and I think in four years he’s going to be something to watch.”

Harvey leaves us with the final quote on the final Day 16 of the Sochi Games, “I came here in great shape and our training camp was perfect. We did everything we could. All that we could control was well done. It’s just that we have not been able to deliver the goods,” he said, recalling that Norway’s Petter Northug, considered one of the best in the world, leaves the Games without a medal as well.

“This is not the end of the world. It’s just sport, but there is not a day where we can be satisfied with the results. I have no regrets, because we prepared as best we could. Yes, I have disappointments and I do not know what we could have done differently,” said Harvey.

Results here.