November 20, 2016 (Gallivare, SWE) – On Sunday Devon Kershaw continued his strong results in pre-season racing in Gällivare, Sweden.  Last weekend he skied to a dominant 1 minute victory at the Gallivare Season Opener. This weekend Devon continued where he left off, with a 26-second victory in a 10km classic time trial with the Czech National team and his Canadian team members.

Devon Kershaw © Yngve Johansson, Imega Promotion

It was a Canadian sweep of the podium, with Lenny Valjas in 2nd followed three seconds later by Graeme Killick. Knute Johnsgaard was 7th at 1:33 back from the leader with Jesse Cockney finished 8th at 1-second later.

Andy Shields didn’t race after arriving late to Sweden due to travel challenges.

On the women’s side the Czech’s swept the podium, led by World Cup veterans Katerina Smutna and Petra Novakova. Dahria Beatty and Emily Nishikawa finished 6th and 7th, just over a minute off the lead.

All in all it has been a positive start for the Canadian team in early season racing, with Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw showing some particularly strong results.

Results

Men

1. Devon Kershaw (CAN) 25:09.1
2. Lenny Valjas (CAN) 0:26.3
3. Graeme Killick (CAN) 0:29.2
4. Jakub Graef (CZE)     0:34.7
5. Petr Knop    (CZE)    1:09.7
6. Ales Razym    (CZE)    1:32.4
7. Knute Johnsgaard (CAN) 1:33.7
8. Jess Cockney     (CAN)    1:34.3
9. Michal Novak    (CZE)    1:35.1

Women

1. K. Smutna    (CZE)    14:11.0
2. Petra Novakova    (CZE)    0:19.5
3. Karolina Grohova    (CZE)    0:36.4
4. Katerina Berouskova    (CZE)    0:49.0
5. Sandra Schuetzova    (CZE)    0:50.1
6. Dahria Beatty (CAN) 1:05.3
7. Emily Nishikawa (CAN) 1:08.6
8. Andrea Klementova    (CZE)    2:17.6