February 20, 2014 (Krasnaya Polyana, Russia) – Team USA’s Erik Bjornsen and Simi Hamilton scored a strong 6th in the men’s Team Sprint CL while Canada was shut out, as a crash-marred finish saw Finland’s Iivo Niskanen and Sami Jauhojaervi claim their nation’s first gold medal in cross-country skiing at Sochi 2014 Olympic Games. It was also Finland’s first Olympic gold medal since 2002.

A controversial and unfortunate collision, between Jauhojaervi and race leader Germany’s Tim Tscharnke on a downhill corner near the end of the race, saw Tscharnke go down as Jauhojaervi was attempting to pass him.

Russia’s Nikita Kruikov almost went down as well but was able to stay on his feet to claim the silver. Teodor Peterson came through to take the bronze adding to Sweden’s medal count at the Games.

The German Team posted and official protest, claiming that Jauhojaervi obstructed Tscharnke causing him to fall, but it was rejected by a FIS jury upholding Finland’s gold medal.

It was a disappointed day for the Canadian camp as former Nordic Worlds Team Sprint champs Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw were touted to do well but failed to make the final as the team was denied another chance to secure their first men’s Olympic medal. Kershaw had been sick since Saturday and was not 100% today having sat out the men’s relay as well.

“The course is really hard and the conditions were tricky,” said Harvey. “Sometimes it’s the skis but today it wasn’t the skis… the tricky conditions that made for a really hard race. I fought hard on the first leg perhaps too much for the next two. I wanted to close the gap and get to the front but that cost me too much. We were taking a chance but was missing a little bit today.

“People always say you have to learn from this but I think I learned what I needed too in Vancouver 2010. I was expecting more these Games but there is nothing to learn here… unfortunately it just didn’t happen,” he added.

“I was sick with a bad cold,” said Kershaw. “I was starting to feel a little better but obviously not better enough. If it wasn’t for the Olympics I wouldn’t even have tried. I’ve been staying in a hotel at the bottom of the valley so obviously not good for preparation. I got trashed out there, it was really difficult as the guys were really driving around.”

The USA’s Andy Newell fell sick as well and Bjornsen, on his first trip to the Olympics, replaced him in style as the team anchor and with Hamilton made the final as Lucky Losers. During their semi final Bjornsen made a bullish attack on the final climb to take the lead but ended up fifth as he was chased down and passed in the finishing lanes, yet the effort was key in helping the team make the final.

“I was feeling good in the final. I just definitely left a little bit out there on the semis and so hopefully with more training and more experience I’ll be able to make it to the finals and have an effort left to be able to make a few surges. I didn’t quite feel that today,” said Bjornsen.

“I was super happy with sixth place. It’s always so hard to get knocked out in the first round. It was fun–a lot of skiing today, six laps of a pretty hard course. It’s a fun one. I really like the team sprint and hopefully in the future I can do it some more,” he added.

Hamilton kicked off the final, sprinting into sixth before passing off to Bjornsen. Team USA dropped into eighth and remained there until Hamilton was able to charge into seventh before the final exchange. In the last lap, following Tscharnke’s crash, Bjornsen was able to slide past and claim sixth before the finish.

“It’s a hard course, but at the same time it’s a super exciting course and stays fun. There’s a lot going on all the time so you’ve got to be focusing for four minutes straight per leg,” commented Hamilton.

“We were psyched to be able to ski with each other. I think we were both bummed that Andy (Newell) is not feeling well. Bjornsen who is more of a distance specialist really stepped up and skied awesome. It’s super fun. Speaking for both of us, I think we felt really good in our semifinal.

“The final was hard, to put it simply. It was kind of hammer down from the start. We just tried to hang in there and had fun with it. I think we’re both encouraged for the future and will be training hard so we can be top three in that event someday in the Olympics,” he concluded.

The final saw Germany, Finland and Russia emerge as the leaders as Norway’s Ola Vigen Hattestad and Petter Northug were not up to the task ending up fourth. Germany’s Hannes Dotzler handed off in first to Tscharnke for the final leg as they were clearly motivated but Finland and Russia were right behind with Niskanen in second and Maxim Vylegzhanin in third.

Tscharnke, Jauhojaervi and Kruikov were in an intense battle as the German attacked taking the lead up the final climb making for an exciting finish that quickly vanished as the fateful collision took Tscharnke out of the running as Jauhojaervi raced to the line for the gold. Kruikov delivered another medal for Russian fans as Sweden took home another unexpected medal.

“It was fun to do something that you might not have expected,” said Jauhojaervi. On whether he contravened any rules he added…”I was ahead, so I think it was a legal move.”

It was a day full of the unexpected and both the German and Canadian teams were left wanting at the end of the day. Justin Wadsworth, Head Coach of the Canadian team was hoping for better.

“This is the worst feeling that I have had since being with the team. We obviously had some waxing issues early and then Devon had a bit of sickness! We thought about Lenny but he has had some health issues too with his knee and didn’t qualify in the sprint so was a bit of a risk. But my disappointment stems from years of being ready for this day and then having nothing,” he commented.

“I skied with Alex yesterday and it was the fastest easiest ski I have ever done. It is a funny thing how it works out – this is 4 minutes of the hardest skiing. We have to give this some time and try and learn from it. We are not going to give up – we still have one race left for the girls and the guys. When I look back we had everything in place but we are getting a big goose egg out of it. As a coach I take all of this responsibility! It is hard but I will go back and review and try and find answers,” he concluded.