February 23, 2017 (Lahti, Finland) – Canada’s Alex Harvey raced to a strong 12th-place finish in the men’s 1.6km Freestyle Sprint on the opening day of the 2017 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland. Andy Newell led the American men in 21st.

Federico Pellegrino of Italy was crowned the winner after making an explosive move in the finishing lanes to take the gold over a disappointed Sergey Ustiugov from Russia. Third went to Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo of Norway.

Harvey posted the 13th-fastest qualifying time in soft and slow conditions to move onto the quarterfinals. The talented lone Canadian to qualify was joined by two Americans – veteran Newell and rising star Simi Hamilton.

With fresh snow falling between the qualifier and heats, racing in the quarterfinals put tactical skiing skills at a premium. This played to Harvey’s strength, who skied in the back of his quarterfinal until the final climb, where he blasted around the competition to win his heat and move into the semifinals.

“I felt great all day,” Harvey said after the race. “The qualifier, I may have gone out a bit too easy in the first half, but I had a lot of punch on the last climb.”

In his semifinal, Harvey tried the same tactics as he did in the quarterfinals, but the slow new snow on the outside of the tracks didn’t allow him to move past his competition. Harvey finished 5th in his semifinal, but was given a yellow-card for obstructing Norway’s Emil Iversen, relegating him to last place in the heat.

“I kept getting pinched on the inside of the last corner all day,” Harvey said. “I had a lot of power, but with the fresh snow it was really tough to go outside the race line. It was key to be out front, but that is not really in the cards for me to be in the lead. The sides were quite slow today, so with my style of racing, it was quite hard coming from the back.”

The A-Final was hot from the gun, with Italy’s Pellegrino chasing Ustiugov from the get-go with Russian leading into the final corner as Klaebo sat third. In the dash to the line Ustiugov could not hold off a surging Pellegrino who took the outside lane and made good as he claimed the men’s world champion Sprint F title.

Hamilton of the U.S. qualified in 11th, but crashed out of his quarterfinal on the final descent. In an email after the race, Hamilton said, “I didn’t ski the final climb like I wanted to and got stuck behind Jouve over the top. He was fading and there was no way of getting around him around the corner, so I just focused on taking as much speed down the descent as I could in hopes of getting a sling-shot past him and catching Pellegrino and Klaebo. As I moved past Jouve when we were coming over the Lahti Curve bump, I took a hard skate with my right leg and I think I hooked my tip in the deep powder that was outside of the skied-in downhill track. At least I think that’s what happened… it unfolded so fast and that’s my best recollection of how I went down.”

Hamilton added that “…seeing three of our girls in the final was insane, and walking away from the day with two medals is still something that’s still soaking in. I’m so proud of those girls.”

Newell qualified in 20th, but was also knocked out in the quarterfinals. After the race, he told Trax, “The quarterfinal for me was a tough one, super close but just not close enough. It was a really fast-paced, tight heat and I just wasn’t able to make enough passes from the back.” Newell ended the day in 21st overall.

He added that, “These championships don’t seem much different than any of the other ones but our expectations as a team have increased over the years… so we’re not going to be satisfied without some big results.”

 

Erik Bjornsen of the US finished the qualifier in 36th (+12.59), missing the top-30 by 2.22 seconds. Fellow American Cole Morgan, at his first-ever World Championships, finished in 54th (+18.41).

For the Canadian team, Jess Cockney was 47th (+16.82), Len Valjas was 48th (+17.16), and Knute Johnsgaard was 53rd (+18.39).

Results here.