March 09, 2016 (Canmore, AB) – Italy’s Federico Pellegrino hammered to victory under blue skies in the men’s 1.5km Classic sprint claiming his first classic sprint win over Norway’s Eirik Brandsdal and Maurice Manificat of France. The 2016 men’s Sprint Cup globe winner was all smiles at the finish of the final sprint of the season.

Local fans were stoked to see Canada’s two top-dog sprinters, Alex Harvey and Lenny Valjas, make the heats with strong runs in 14th and 18th respectively, as their teammate Devon Kershaw a mere 0.31 seconds off in 33rd and did not advance.

Harvey heat saw him face-off against his Ski Tour Canada rival Martin Johnsrud Sundby (NOR). The Canadian managed to stay with the leaders for much of the race, but was missing his signature acceleration as he came into the stadium in fifth and was unable to gain any positions at the finish. Sundby moved on to the semis and the final as well, which moved him ahead of Harvey to fourth overall in the Tour standings.

“I’m very disappointed with today’s result, even more so because I lost ground on the ones I am chasing, and it allows for the those behind me to gain some ground after I kept them at bay in Quebec City,” said Harvey.

Valjas faced big names in his heat including Petter Northug (NOR) and Teodor Peterson (SWE). Peterson led out, with Valjas at the back alongside Northug. Russian Alexander Bessmertnykh was out front when he crashed, allowing Northug to move into the lead. It was a tight finish with Northug just nipping Peterson and finishing 0.3s ahead of Valjas – good enough for a lucky loser spot in the semis.

“It was a dream come true for me to get back into the semis for just the second time this year, and I couldn’t pick a better day than to do it than here. My season was so close to being a great year, but I’ve had so many close calls of getting into the heats.”

In the semis Valjas was stuck at the back of the pack for most of the race, finishing sixth behind Manificat. Northug was second.

“I used a similar tactic to sit at the back of both heats. On the second climb I just emptied the tank and would use the downhill to attack on the final sprint finish. In the quarter it all worked out to perfection, but the semifinal I had nothing left. One extra push at the top of the hill can mean separating yourself 15 metres from the pack on the downhill. I did everything I could, and am thrilled to get this result in before the end of the year.”

In the final, Pellegrino was ecstatic as he became the first non-Norwegian or non-Swede to take the overall men’s sprint World Cup title. Sundby finished fourth and Finn Haagen Krogh (NOR) was fifth as Northug took a leisurely stroll along the course. Speculation is that they were perhaps saving energy for the next day’s 30km skiathlon, while other reports claimed that they simply did not wish to attend the awards ceremony that evening.

The story was unfortunate for the US men as well, as no Americans advanced past qualifications. Erik Bjornsen (USA) was the top American qualifier in 44th, followed by Simeon Hamilton 47th, Andy Newell (USA) in 52nd, Reese Hanneman in 62nd, Noah Hoffman in 69th, Scott Patterson in 72nd, Eric Packer in 73rd, Tad Elliott in 77th, Dakota Blackhorse-Von Jess in 78th, Brian Gregg in 81st and Matthew Edward Liebsch in 83rd.

For the Canadians it was Knute Johnsgaard following Kershaw in 48th, Patrick Stewart-Jones was 54th, Jesse Cockney was 56th, Bob Thompson was 58th, Graeme Killick was 59th, Russell Kennedy finished 61st, Andy Shields was 64th, Ivan Babikov was 68th, Simon Lapointe was 70th and Michael Sommpi finished 76th.

Shields and Hamilton were among those who fell victim to the nasty downhill turn on the course where many skiers crashed, however, all of them bounced off the ground and hammered to the finish.

Canada’s Killick also crashed, stating afterwards: “I have never felt so sick after a race,” when talking about how hard he fought to get back into the mix after falling.

Meanwhile, Head coach of the Canadian squad, Justin Wadsworth, has no concerns Harvey will be back and hungry for the 30km Skiathlon, the sixth stage on Wednesday (Mar. 9). “Today was a bittersweet day. You always want someone in the final going for the podium, but it is still a Tour and you can’t get to ramped up. You have to take the positives of each day, and when you get bumped out of the quarterfinals, we can use this as a positive to be more rested tomorrow. Alex is a rock. He will be mad. He is in great shape, and there is no doubt in my mind he’ll bounce back and be there again tomorrow,” said Wadsworth.

Qualifications here.
Results here.