Canada’s Alex Harvey earned silver in a photo finish with Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo in the 15-kilometre pursuit race on Sunday to close out the cross-country World Cup finals in Quebec City.
Harvey, of Saint Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que., and Klaebo both crossed the line in 32 minutes 44.5 seconds. Niklaus Dyrhaug, also from Norway, posted a time of 32:44.6 and was a mere 0.1 seconds behind to make for a thrilling finish to the race.
Canada’s Devon Kershaw finished 26th with a time of 35:05.9.
Harvey won the 1.5 km sprint event on Friday and was fourth in the 15 km event on Saturday.
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“I was on really good skis and it was a really good day,” said Harvey.
“I came into this mini-tour in Quebec wanting to hold onto third overall. I didn’t think I would be able to have a win and finish second and separate myself from the rest. I was just hoping to fight for the top-three in the overall, but I was really focused.”
Harvey’s father, Canadian cross country and cycling legend Pierre Harvey, estimated the margin of Klaebo’s victory at two centimetres.
“I lunged with everything I had,” said Alex Harvey. “I knew I was going to be second or first.
“Klaebo is the best sprinter in the world. He’s got the crystal globe at home. He’s got a medal from the world championships in the sprint, so there’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
Harvey started the pursuit 23 seconds behind Klaebo and one second behind Dyrhaug. Despite getting no help from Dyrhaug, Harvey caught up to Klaebo midway through the second of four 3.75-kilometre laps. It was a tactical battle the rest of the way for the three-man lead group.
Harvey’s results for the weekend allowed him to maintain third place in overall World Cup standings behind Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Russia’s Sergey Ostiugov, who both skipped the meet. He also finished second for the season in distance races behind Sundby, with Matti Hakkinen of Finland third.
Norway shares the spotlight
Marit Bjoergen edged Norwegian teammate Heidi Weng in the final sprint to win the women’s pursuit race Sunday at the cross-country skiing World Cup finals.
Stina Nilsson of Sweden was third.
Bjoergen and Weng started with a 29 second led and worked together to stay well in front of the chasing pack throw out the 10-kilometre race.
After the race, Weng was handed the crystal globe as overall women’s World Cup champion.
Krista Parmakoski of Finland finished second in overall standings and Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg of Norway was third.
Anamarija Lampic of Slovenia won the trophy as top under-23 skier.
Emily Nishikawa was the top Canadian in 38th place.
