December 07, 2014 (Lillehammer, NOR) – Canada’s Alex Harvey rebounded with the seventh fastest time in Sunday’s 15km CL Pursuit to finish 10th overall as the season’s first mini tour wrapped up in Lillehammer, Norway. Local star Martin Johnsrud Sundby captured his 4th consecutive Tour victory in a battle with teammate Finn Haagen Krogh who settled for 2nd, with Sjur Roethe (NOR) claiming 3rd for another Norwegian podium sweep.

Harvey’s teammate Ivan Babikov bolted up the standings with the 10th-fastest time of the day for one of his best classic ski results of his career moving up 28 spots to finish in 28th overall. The top American was Erik Bjornsen in 39th.

“Overall I had two out of three good races this weekend so I have to be happy,” said Harvey, who now sits in seventh spot in the overall World Cup rankings. “During these stage races, at some point your body dictates how you are going to feel. You have to focus on recovery so last night I just did all the proper things to allow my body to recover overnight and I felt really good and strong today. I guess I’ll have to work a bit on my skate-skiing but overall I am pleased.”

Babikov was really pleased with his classic effort today. “For me to finish top-10 in a classic ski race is very special,” said Babikov while hopping on the Canadian bus en route to Davos, Switzerland for the next stop on the World Cup. “I worked really hard this summer on double poling and I think that helped today. This course was extremely tough with lots of hills, which is right up my alley. I had a good group of guys around me to work with, the skis were fast and my body felt great all day.”

Sudbury’s Devon Kershaw also wasted no time making up ground on the field. Starting in 66th place, Kershaw started fast to pick off 25 spots on the field and finish with the 28th fastest time of the day.

“I started too hard and with all the traffic around and trying to move around, it cost me some energy. That became apparent on the 2nd lap up the giant hill in the back of the course when I was started running out of gas – fast. The last lap ended up being better so I was happy with that. It was an awesome day for my teammates. for both of them. Very solid start for Alex and Babs was beastmoding out there, and that was great to see. Really happy for him,” commented Kershaw.

For American Bjornsen it was a solid start to the World Cup for the rising US star. “Today’s race was great for me! I love classic skiing especially when I get skis that run and have good kick – today was one of those days. The body felt great too! I was able to hammer every hill, and then recover on the downhill. I also had one of the best finishing kicks that I’ve had in a while. It would be cool to see a split from just that stadium hill, I think I would have been up there.

“I’m happy with how this weekend went. Of course I would like to see a better result but this is a stiff field and this is my first time racing here. I’m really happy with my fitness right now. I hope I can continue to improve through the season and get closer to the top guys,” he concluded.

We caught up with Canadian head coach Justin Wadsworth as well for his take on the weekend. “Solid for Alex and Ivan for sure. Devon not bad – anytime you’re in the top 30 in a WC you’re skiing well, so although it wasn’t as good as last week, it was still competitive.

“Emily is going OK, and Peri’s plan was to do the sprint and 5k, and be ready for great training leading into Davos. This plan for her is based on her physiology, and even though she could have skied the 10k today it really wouldn’t have served her well for what she needs to become faster in sprints,” he commented.

15km CL Pursuit here
Mini Tour results here