'I still believe I can compete among the best:' Sudbury's Devon Kershaw on Olympic skiing dreams

Olympic cross-country skier Devon Kershaw knows he can't compete forever.

But the Sudbury athlete is taking one last shot at Olympic gold this winter representing Team Canada in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Kershaw and teammate Alex Harvey made history over the last decade by becoming the first Canadian men to win world championship and World Cup medals in a sport dominated by Europeans.

But in 2014 at the Sochi Olympics, Kershaw was struck with a lung infection and the team did not come close to a cross-country medal.

Kershaw told CBC's Morning North that he hopes a strong showing will put to rest that disastrous showing.

"My goal is to ski my absolute best," Kershaw said. "And I still believe I can compete among the ten best, and the beauty of that is...I have a lot of experience to draw from."

"I've been close before, so you can rest assured I won't come in fourth, or fifth, like Vancouver."

Kershaw came in fourth at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010, finishing fractions of a second off the mark.

"At the same time, I'm 35, so I'm not skiing at the level I was when I was 25."

Despite nearing the end of a rewarding career, Kershaw said he's not going to be distracted by any thoughts of what comes after his competitive days are behind him.

"My plans are to go back home and then I have a month of world cup racing," he said.

"We'll just have to wait and see, no decisions have been made yet."