Alex Harvey earns 1st medal of cross-country World Cup season
Canadian brings home bronze in freestyle sprint event
The Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que., native took bronze in the freestyle sprint event with a finishing time of three minutes, 19.88 seconds.
"It is always fun to be on the podium no matter when you do it, but to do it early in the season is a bit of a pressure reliever," said Harvey. "This tells me I did the right things this summer and is a nice confidence booster to know you are still in the game because there always questions marks in cross-country skiing when you start the season."
That mark put him less than one second behind gold medallist Federico Pellegrino of Italy (3:19.17). Norway's Emil Iverson won silver at 3:19.65.
Watch highlights from Harvey's bronze-medal run:
Harvey, 30, has participated in the last three Winter Olympics but failed to medal, with his best result a fourth-place finish in the 50-kilometre mass start at Pyeongchang. He now has 30 World Cup medals to his name.
"For me to break the 30 mark is not something I ever dreamed of – it just seemed too far out of reach. It takes a lot of people to get on a podium any week, and especially 30 times so the credit goes to a lot of people," said Harvey.
On Friday, Harvey nearly missed out on a chance to medal when he finished fourth in his semifinal heat, only to qualify for the final as a "lucky loser" since his heat was significantly faster.
Harvey, entered the final stretch in fourth place and used an energetic push to overtake Norway's Sindre Bjornestad Skar before the finish.
Haywood UPDATE: <a href="https://twitter.com/alex_harvey?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@alex_harvey</a> grabs first podium of the season, bronze, with a devastating closing sprint at Lillehammer World Cup.<a href="https://twitter.com/TeamCanada?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TeamCanada</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CBCOlympics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBCOlympics</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/RC_Sports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RC_Sports</a> <a href="https://t.co/2RIJrQBfXw">pic.twitter.com/2RIJrQBfXw</a>
—@cccski"I'm just not fast enough off the start and the quarter-final was a bit of a scrappy heat so I decided to chill at the back and let the other guys cut each other up, save my energy until the last big climb and then make my move. It is a really big, high-speed finish. I had great skis and speed and was able to push hard in both heats," said Harvey.
Racing continues on Saturday at 6:15 a.m. ET on CBCSports.ca, with the 15-km individual freestyle.
Andy Shields of Kitchener, Ont., (3:22.22) and Russell Kennedy of Canmore, Alta., (3:22.84) did not advance to qualifying, placing 60th and 64th respectively.
In the women's 1.3-kilometre sprint, Sweden's Jonna Sundling and Stina Nilsson were first and second respectively, followed by American Sadie Bjornsen.
No Canadians were entered in the women's event.
With files from The Canadian Press