Canada's Alex Harvey didn't have the sprint speed of Norway's Petter Northug, Germany's Axel Teichmann and Russia's Alexey Petukhov in the final kilometre, but he and cross-country skiing teammate Devon Kershaw still posted the country's best finish ever in the Olympic men's team sprint, placing fourth.
The Canadian pair, two of the four skiers who placed fifth, eighth, ninth and 16th in the pursuit two days earlier, finished just 6.3 seconds off the podium in Monday's (Feb. 22) two-person relay in which each athlete skis three, 1.6-kilometre laps.
Kershaw, who paired with Rossland's George Grey to ski for Canada in the event at the 2006 Olympics, briefly had the lead late in his third leg at Whistler Olympic Park (WOP). He finished the leg in second place, just 1.9 seconds off the pace, and Canada was very much in the medal hunt as he tagged off to Harvey, the son of Canadian cross-country ski legend Pierre Harvey.
The 21-year-old from St-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que., who had thrilled fans with his finishing charge to earn bronze in the same race at last year's World Cup at WOP, stayed close for the first few hundred metres of his leg. That, however, was before Teichmann attacked and was followed shortly by Northug, then Petukhov.
Northug, the current World Cup points leader, brought it home for he and Norwegian teammate Oeysein Pettersen, beating out Teichmann by 1.3 seconds. The Russians finished third, 1.5 seconds off the pace.
Harvey, who fell behind the leaders on the race's final two hills, nonetheless finished with his customary late charge, edging Kazakhstan's Nikolai Poltaranin to claim fourth.
"We knew that today was a good shot at a medal, but I just didn't have the speed that those guys do," Harvey said. "I was recovering well between rounds, but I didn't have that kind of speed."
Kershaw, from Sudbury, Ont., said the results so far at these Games show the Canadian men are on the cusp of something big in Nordic skiing both in the short term and in the longer term.
"We are definitely skiing better than a lot of people thought, and our own expectations are super high. We wanted to do it for the home fans.
"It's a little tough to get the wooden medal (fourth), but this is the best Canada has ever done and when you have career-best performances, you've got to hold your head high."
Kershaw and Grey didn't make it to the 10-team final at the 2006 Games.
The results over the past two events have also raised Canadian fans' expectations for Wednesday's (Feb. 24) 4 X 10 km relay and Sunday's (Feb. 28) 50 kilometres.
"If we can ski as fast as we did in the pursuit, good things can come" in the relay, Harvey said.
Added Kershaw, "The relay is the marquee event in cross country, and there are about 10 teams that are looking good. It's going to be tough, but we're not resting on our laurels."
Kershaw, 27, also had high praise for his young teammate.
"Alex Harvey is the most talented skier I've ever skied or raced with," he said. "Sometimes we forget that he's only 21 years old.
"Alex is the future of this sport in Canada. You watch in a few years he'll be the Peter Northug of the sport. He'll be the one attacking and winning."
Canada also had a strong showing in the women's team sprint as Dasha Gaiazova and Sara Renner, a silver medalist in with Beckie Scott women's classic team sprint at the 2006 Olympics, qualified for the final and finished seventh.
In the final, he Canadians were just 4.7 seconds behind the leaders after the first two of six legs. Gaiazova then fell 11.6 seconds behind and Renner 20.5 seconds back, and the Canadians finished 48.1 seconds behind the winners as Renner couldn't beat out longtime rival Kikkan Randall of the United States in a sprint for sixth place.
Germany won gold as Claudia Nystad edged Anna Haag of Sweden by 0.6 seconds at the finish. Russia captured the bronze, four seconds behind.
Renner, who plans to retire after the Games, no doubt would like to go out on a high note in Saturday's (Feb. 27) 30-kilometre classic race, probably her strongest event.
The forecast is for a high of 3 degrees C with a chance of flurries mixed with rain.
"I hope it's absolutely gnarly," Renner said. "I hope it's raining and snowing and I hope all the girls are freaking out on the start line. That (would be) an advantage for me, because I've skied that here."
