Alex Harvey takes cross-country silver ahead of World Cup season

Canada's Alex Harvey proved he's well prepared for the upcoming World Cup season by taking silver in a 15-kilometre skate-ski race on Sunday in Gallivare, Sweden.

Expectations are high for the two-time Olympian this year. Harvey, of Saint Ferreol les Neiges, Que., made history last season by becoming the first Canadian to win two world championship medals in the same year with a silver and bronze. 

"It is always good to get the season started, and I'm excited to head to Finland with two solid results under my belt," Harvey said. "I tend to start slow in individual starts which is not great if you want to contend for the podium. I went maybe a little to hard today, but I'm happy."

The 27-year-old demonstrated impressive fitness as he pushed the pace off the start on Sunday, leading the race by five seconds over the first five-kilometres before Russia's Sergey Ustiugov countered over the second half of the race to pull away from the field. 

Harvey clocked a time of 32:40.4 on the hard-packed snow conditions, just behind Ustiugov's 32:12.9. Russia's Evgeniy Belov rounded out the podium. 

"It's such a long season, but you have to really make sure your shape is in top from Christmas onwards," Harvey said. "My target this year is to win the Overall title. I didn't necessarily believe that I could do that in the past, but I do believe I have a shot at that title this year."

Veteran teammate Devon Kershaw, of Sudbury, Ont., hopes to rebound from a season plagued with illness and injury. The 32-year-old showed that he is a medal threat ahead of the start of the season next weekend with a fourth-place finish.

Ivan Babikov, of Canmore, Alta., cracked the top 10 with an eighth-place result, while Graeme Killick, of Fort McMurray, Alta., placed 11th.

Meanwhile, Emily Nishikawa squeaked into the top 10 as the lone Canadian in the women's field at the FIS race. The 26-year-old from Whitehorse battled through the cool conditions to place ninth.

The Canadian National Ski Team open the World Cup season in Ruka, Finland, November 27-29.