November 29, 2015 (Kuusamo, Finland) – The final tough 15km CL stage of the Ruka Triple mini-tour saw Canada’s Alex Harvey finish seventh overall for his best-ever result at the opening weekend of the World Cup in Kuusamo, Finland. Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby proved unstoppable as he took his sixth consecutive Tour victory keeping his winning streak alive as he led a Norge podium sweep.

“It was a tough race for sure. I felt really good, in fact I think it was the best day I had physically, but it was really tricky waxing conditions,” said Harvey who had the 12th-fastest time of the day.

A late surge by Petter Northug saw him fight his way past Italy’s Francesco de Fabiani on the final climb to move into second place by the final corner. By then it was clear the Northug had played his cards well but the young Italian let his guard down to early as a late attack and final lunge by Finn Haagen Krogh made it an all-Norwegian podium.

“It’s a good start of the World Cup season,” said Sundby. “Today’s race was tougher than yesterday. I wanted the other guys think they cannot catch me but I started way too fast. I got extremely tired and after 7.5 km I did not know how to continue. I am happy I am leaving Ruka with the overall victory in the mini-tour.”

With fresh, wet snow evolving on top of an icy track, Harvey was in the mix until the final two laps around the six-loop race.

“Our skis really weren’t that bad. The speeds were average, but the difference was the Norwegians and Italians had the best skis. I was right there until the final kilometre but I think as the track started deteriorating and I lost the group on the last downhill,” added Harvey. “I am super satisfied with the weekend. Seventh is my best final ranking in Kuusamo. I just felt I had something more in me today than seventh.”

It was also a solid opening weekend for three-time Olympian, Devon Kershaw who climbed six spots in the standings after earning the 17th fastest time of the day to finish 23rd overall.

“This is usually the hardest race we do all year. People are just going bananas from the gun,” said Kershaw. “You have to warm up well, ski well technically, go with the pace and hope for the best.”

The top American was Erik Bjornsen in 48th who told us, “The goal for today was to go out, race hard, and have fun. I know I have to be at the top of my game to post an impressive World Cup result and I’m just not quite there right now. I skied pretty poorly the last two days and so I was starting in the 53rd position and my chances of skiing into the top 30 was very low. The conditions were really tricky for waxing all weekend and today was no exception. It’s tough for our wax techs to compete against the big teams with big budgets. I’m working with a new tech this year, Andrew, I thought we did a good job making the best of the situation.

“I was happy with my race. I went out there, fought hard in the crap conditions, and had fun doing it. I struggled a lot on the hills but I like running so I made the herring bone work the best I could. I felt really strong on the double pole, which there was very little of. I fell and broke a pole on one of the tricky corners and so lost some time and drive on that mistake.

“Racing over here is just so different, I’m trying my best to learn from all these experiences. Growing up in the Methow, I would rarely ski in conditions that weren’t perfect and I didn’t experience competition like this until the last few years. I want to make that next step and I’m trying my best to figure out how to accomplish this. I appreciate all the support from the U.S. ski community. I’m trying to be patient but I hope everybody knows I’m hungry for much more,” he concluded.

Overall results here.