Harvey opens World Cup season with skate-ski silver in Finland

Olympic cross-country skier Alex Harvey has started the FIS World Cup season opening weekend with a second place finish in the 10km skate-ski competition at Kuusamo, Finland.

While it was the 16th World Cup medal for Harvey, Saturday at the Ruka ski resort marked the first time he found himself on a podium before Christmas.

Alex Harvey edges Dario Cologna of Switzerland in Kuusamo, Finland to win World Cup skate-ski silver on November 28, 2015.

Alex Harvey edges Dario Cologna of Switzerland in Kuusamo, Finland to win World Cup skate-ski silver on November 28, 2015.

The 27-year old two-time Olympian has been competing on the senior circuit since 2008. Last year Harvey became the first Canadian cross-country skier to win two individual medals at the same World Championships.

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Harvey said his goal this season “is to win the Overall title” and already enjoying his best start to a season, that task will seem more possible than ever.

“I didn’t necessarily believe that I could do that in the past, but I do believe I have a shot at that title this year. I didn’t have a good result yesterday (when competition opened with sprint races) but I knew my fitness was good and I was confident heading into today.”

Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway – the reigning World Cup overall title-holder – took gold in a time of 21 minutes and 5.5 seconds on Saturday. Harvey (21:16.7) was about 11 seconds back of Sundby, edging Dario Cologna of Switzerland (21:17.1) by less than half a second.

Last week Harvey warmed-up for the opening World Cup race with another silver at a skate-ski race in Sweden.

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