THE CANADIAN PRESS
LAHTI, Finland — Canada’s Alex Harvey raced to a bronze medal in a skiathlon World Cup pursuit race Saturday.
The skier from St-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que., finished just 4.2 seconds back of winner Dario Cologna of Switzerland.
"It was a good race today for me. Every time I am on the podium it’s good," Harvey said. "With 90 skiers on the start line the race was tight especially in the corners. I had to be careful but luckily nobody crashed before me. I like mass starts, I like the adrenaline."
Cologna extended his overall World Cup lead with the win, while Therese Johaug led a Norwegian sweep in the women’s race.
Cologna pulled away from his rivals over the last couple of kilometres and then held off Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby to complete the 30-kilometre race in one hour seven minutes, 30.5 seconds. Johnsrud Sundby was 3.7 seconds back.
Most of the top skiers were still together after the 15K classical style portion, and Cologna went up in front early in the freestyle leg but couldn’t pull away until the end.
"I could not react on Dario, it was a fast attack," Harvey said.
Earlier, Johaug had a more dominant victory after after pulling away early from the main pack and maintaining the gap until the end.
The 23-year-old Johaug finished the 15K race in 36 minutes, 52.6 seconds.
Fellow countrywomen Marit Bjoergen and Heidi Weng were second and third, respectively. Bjoergen finished 10.2 seconds back in second place to overtake Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk for the lead in the overall World Cup standings. Weng earned her first individual podium finish by coming in 1.1 seconds behind Bjoergen.
Kowalczyk was eighth.