The Canadian men were the stars today at Homenkollen! Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey took gold in the team sprint, followed by the Norwegians, Petter Northug and Ola Vigen Hattestand. The Russian team, consisting of Alexander Panzhinskiy and Nikita Kriukov, took the bronze medal.
How does a team sprint work? Each team is represented by two athletes who tag off after completing loops of the course. The competitors each skied the 1.3K (women) or 1.5K (men) course three times.
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| Alex Harvey in the individual sprints earlier this week |
The Canadians have proven their strength: Harvey won the 30K Pursuit during the U23 Championships this January, then took the bronze medal in the sprints at
Drammen the weekend before coming to Holmenkollen. Devon Kershaw doesn't have shabby results either: he won the sprint in Toblach, Italy in January and took bronze in Oberstdorf Germany a few days later. They were expected to do well, but the Norwegians were, without a doubt, the favorites to take the gold. As we should all know by now, anything can happen in the sprints.
Harvey pulled through in the finishing stretch, double-poling past Hattestand to upset the Norwegian expectations. Harvey put his finger to his mouth to "shush" the roaring Norwegian crowds, acknowledging that he had snuck up on the Norwegian team, and that they would be disappointed.
In a post-race interview, Devon Kershaw's comment that "the 2,500 people that follow cross country skiing in our country will be pretty excited" caught the attention of the Norwegian press. It is such a stark contrast to Norway, where thousands of fans have filled the stadium everyday of this Championships.
The American team was Andy Newell and Torin Koos. They finished the day in 10th place.
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| Heja Sverige! (Go Sweden!) |
While the North American men mixed it up on the podium, Scandinavians were dominant on the female side. It was the Swedish team, Charlotte Kalla and Ida Ingemarsdotter, that walked away with gold for the ladies. Kalla is one of my favorite skiers, and although I still hold a little grudge against her teammate, Ida Ingemarsdotter, for causing Kikkan Randall to fall during the quarterfinals of the individual sprints, I was happy to see the Swedes finish first. Aino-Kasia Saarinen and Krista Lahteenmaki from Finland took the bronze, and the Norwegian duo, Maiken Caspersen Falla and Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen were third.
The Canadians team, made up of Daria Gaiazova and Perianne Jones, came across in sixth place. The Americans (Sadie Bjornsen and Kikkan Randall) were ninth.
Additional Links:
Full results:
Men
Full results:
Women
NRK's report of the Canadian win
Recap of Day One: Individual Skate Sprints
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