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Crash costs Canada chance at medal in Quebec City sprints

Athletes head to Canmore for next stop of World Cup tour
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Everything was set up perfectly for a heroic hometown performance before a crowd of thousands, but in the end Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw were not the masters of their own fate in the World Cup Sprint Event in Quebec City.

On a sprint course that was filled with bumps, berms and even a small jump, Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey got off to a strong start in the team sprint event, which involved making three laps of a 1.6km course with athletes handing off after every lap.

Harvey grew up outside the city and the crowds were chanting his name as he worked his way up to fourth place on the final lap and was positioning himself for a pass that would have put him on the podium. However, Emil Joensson of Sweden, one of the top skiers in the world, caught an edge in the snow and crashed, knocking Harvey off course into the fencing. Harvey rallied and caught the lead group again, but he lost too much time in the crash to have a shot at the podium.

"I knew right there it was done," he said. "When your hand touches the snow in sprint racing the gap is just too big to make up. That is sprint racing. The Swedes are two of the best out here and you never would expect (Joensson) to go down, but there is nothing you can do. You need to find your luck in sprinting."

For Kershaw, it was just bad luck.

"There are a lot of big guys out here racing with not much space, and there is a lot of knocking around that goes on, so crashes happen," he said.

"Everyone out here wants to win, but we really wanted to win today. It is too bad, but you just can't go down in sprinting."

The other Canadian team featured Len Valjas and Canmore's Jesse Cockney, with Valjas still recovering from a hand injury. They made the cut to reach the finals, but placed 10th out of 10 teams in the final race.

A pair of racers from Kazakhstan, an up-and-coming Nordic nation, placed first with Denis Volotka and Kilolay Chebotko earning the gold medals. The Russia I team — Nikia Kriukov and Alexey Petukhov — were second by a tenth of a second, while Norway I — Anders Bloeersen and Eirik Brandsdal — edged out the Norway II team for the third spot on the podium.

The top five teams were separated by just 1.9 seconds.

In the women's race, the Canadian team of Chandra Crawford and Daria Gaiazova did not advance past the semifinals. The win went to the American team of Jessica Diggins and Kikkan Randall — who's emerging as the top female racer this season. Hanna Kob and Denis Hermann of Germany were second, while Celine Brun-Lie and Maiken Caspersen Falla of Norway were third.

Canadians didn't fare that well in the individual sprints the next day. On the men's side, Alex Harvey was 21st, Jesse Cockney 32nd and Devon Kershaw 34th. Whistler's Thomsen D'Hont, racing in his first World Cup event, was 65th.

Emil Joensson and Teodor Peterson of Sweden were first and second, while Russia's Alexey Petukhov picked up bronze.

In the women's race, Kikkan Randall picked up another gold medal, her fifth medal of the season to rank second overall on the tour. She was joined on the podium by Maiken Capersen Falla of Norway and Ida Ingemarsdotter of Sweden.

The Canadian team, which has not been on the podium yet this season, will get another chance to win at home this weekend, as Canmore hosts three World Cup events. For more, visit www.cccski.com.

Biathlete back in top 10

Just one week after he made Canadian biathlon history by winning his first World Cup race, Jean-Philippe Le Guellec was back on course at Hochfilzen, Austria proving the first win was no fluke. Once again Le Guellec was in the mix, but a missed shot in his final round bumped him out of podium contention and put him in 10th overall for the day — just six seconds back of the podium after 10km of racing and two trips to the firing range.

"It was another great day, but goes to show how much a miss can be costly," he said. "I just overcompensated for the wind a bit. I was a little more nervous than usual heading into the race, but was able to focus without a problem once I passed the start gate. I'm totally happy to follow up last week's race with a top 10."

For every missed shot, skiers have to make one lap of a 150-metre penalty loop.

One of the things that makes biathlon so interesting is how quickly fortunes can change at the range — the fastest skiers may have shaky hands at the firing range and miss shots, while the best shooters may not be fast enough. And shooting accurately when you're breathing hard and your heart rate is close to its maximum is challenging at the best of times — although athletes learn to control their breathing at the range and can rapidly reduce their heart rates through training and technique.

Andreas Birnbacher of Germany was first overall, followed by Martin Fourcade of France and Jakov Fak of Slovenia.

Scott Perras also earned points in 25th place while Nathan Smith was 73rd.

On the women's side, Rosanna Crawford was 24th, Megan Imrie 56th, Megan Heinicke 57th and Zone Kocher 73rd. The win went to Darya Domracheva of Belarus, followed by Kaisa Makarianen of Finland and Tora Berger of Norway.