Alex Harvey to retire at the end of cross-country ski season
2-time world champ's final race will be March 24 at World Cup Final in Quebec City
Canadian cross-country skier Alex Harvey will retire following the World Cup Final in Quebec City on March 24.
The 30-year-old from Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Quebec has finished on the podium more than 25 times in World Cup competitions and he also won world championship gold in 2011 and 2017.
Alex Harvey announces he will retire at the end of the season. His final race will be at home 🇨🇦 in Quebec City on March 24 ❄️👏<br><br>Look back at his career as the greatest cross country skier in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TeamCanada?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TeamCanada</a> history 👉 <a href="https://t.co/5diL37pTEF">https://t.co/5diL37pTEF</a> <a href="https://t.co/PMSZtp2x0Q">pic.twitter.com/PMSZtp2x0Q</a>
—@TeamCanada"Cross Country Ski de Fond Canada learned earlier this week that Alex Harvey will retire from his competitive skiing career at the end of this season," said spokesman Chris Dornan. "Alex has done some heavy lifting for our program, and accomplished great things in the sport. We look forward to watching the final six weeks of his career.
"We plan to recognize him, and his accomplishments, at the FIS World Cup Final in Quebec City in March."
Cross Country Canada indicated that a special event to highlight Harvey's career and retirement would be organized in the spring.
"He feels ready, and [the retirement announcement] has taken a certain weight off his shoulders," team coach Louis Bouchard said in an email.
WATCH | 5 things you might not have known about Alex Harvey:
Despite never finishing on the podium at the Olympics, Harvey made history throughout his career.
Harvey and team sprint teammate Devon Kershaw became the first Canadian men to win world championship gold in a sport dominated by Europeans at the 2011 World Championships.
Harvey also became the first non-European male to reach the overall podium of the Tour de Ski in January of 2018.
His career-best individual Olympic performance was a fourth-place finish in the 50-kilometre mass start classic last February in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
As his final season continues, Harvey will next compete in this weekend's world championships in Austria, where he will try to add to his already impressive total of five career medals at the worlds.
With files from The Canadian Press