January 04, 2011 (Barrie, ON) – Before Christmas I said that it was time for Devon Kershaw to make the next step up the ladder and be on the podium in a distance race noting that after his results from Vancouver last year this is where he should be.

Well, he’s there and then some! Happy New Year! In the first two days of 2011 Devon has been 2nd twice, once in a classic distance race and again in the classic sprints. He also finished 7th in the skating race and after four legs of the Tour de Ski he’s in 2nd place overall behind only Dario Cologna of Switzerland.

Being on the podium in a men’s distance race is the hardest thing to do in cross-country skiing. There is so much depth in the men’s fields – any one of 30 men can win any race. These are fantastic results for Devon and prove that he truly has moved into the top echelon of racing.

Devon has been a “streaky” skier. In the past he tended to ski fast races in bunches and then drop off and ski a number of poorer races in a row. Much of this is tied to confidence and recovery. Devon trains a lot and has been known in the past to push it too much and not be able to recover. Being tired can really affect your confidence which is the key psychological skill that all athletes need in order to perform at their best.

This is a real Catch 22 for most athletes. If they feel good and are in good shape they have good results and this gives them more confidence. When they feel tired they have poor results and that makes them lose confidence in themselves. In our society you’re only as good as your last result so a couple of bad races in a row has most athletes losing their confidence. Even the best in the world like Tiger Woods have a hard time coming back from poor results and lose their confidence.

Interestingly enough, for some athletes confidence is never a problem no matter what their results. They are labeled cocky or arrogant but really they’re thinking the way that they are supposed to be thinking. Many of these confident athletes also tend to never take responsibility for their results. If they can make it because of something other than themselves then how can they lose confidence? They’re still great, it has nothing to do with them – it was the track, or the snow, or their skis, or the weather, or their starting position, or the coaches, or the other skiers, or somethingŠ! It is not a bad thing if you understand what they may be trying to do.

Devon should now have the confidence that he can ski with the best in the world on any day. Classic or skate, sprint or distance he is there. Regardless of his results or how he is feeling he should be able to keep his confidence now that he can battle for the podium in any race.

Alex Harvey and Kris Freeman are getting close to this level too. Alex was on a distance podium a couple of years ago and Kris has finished 4th in a couple of World Cup races in the past. With Alex in 5th place overall after four races and Kris in 22nd after his 11th place in the 4th race they are both showing that they are not very far behind Devon.

This is really amazing if you think about it. Three North American men at the top of the World Cup standings would be unheard of years years ago. It’s been some time since the days of Pierre Harvey, Bill Koch, Tim Caldwell, Dan Simoneau and Jim Galanes in the 1980’s that this has happened. Couple this with the incredible drop-off by the Norwegian men’s team this year. They’re really having a lot of poor results and even their star, Petter Northug cannot win a sprint any more. Harvey came from behind to beat him in their quarterfinal heat on Jan. 2. This knocked him out of the heats and put him way back in the results.

Now if Ivan Babikov could return to his former level this would be even better. Ivan continues to struggle. He sits in 35th place overall in the tour. Two years ago he had the fastest time in the final stage hill climb in the Tour de Ski and last year he was 4th. I can’t say what the problem is right now. I am sure that everyone close to Ivan has a theory or a suggestion. One thing for sure is that he has to work hard to keep up his confidence now when his results are poor. He has to believe that these results do not really reflect what he can truly do. This will be a key for him to get back to where he wants to be as fast as possible.

Andy Newell is another skier who continues show a lack of confidence at skiing in the heats. After qualifying 4th in the classic sprints on Jan. 1st he made it through his quarterfinal round in second. Then his pattern of something going wrong continued in the semi-final where he tripped up coming out of the gate. He had to really hammer to catch up the 20 meters that he was behind but then fell again in the last 200 meters. This is happening too many times and he’s way too good a skier physically and technically for it to be a physical or luck issue. He may not admit it, but it’s got to be in his head now. He needs to take a good look at what he’s thinking about if he is going to fix this issue.

Kikkan Randall is the only North American woman at the Tour and she continues to ski in the middle of the field. She is 24th overall after the first four races. On the surface this does not look so hot, but Kikkan is just starting to try to ski well in distance races and the only sprint so far has been in her weaker classic style. However, the next race on January 5th in Toblach, Austria is a skating sprint and I am sure that she is looking forward to a much better result there.