Canada’s Alex Harvey wins cross-country ski World Cup 15k

ULRICEHAMN, Sweden – Canadian Alex Harvey won a 15-kilometer freestyle race at the cross-country ski World Cup on Saturday.

Harvey’s time of 32 minutes, 46.2 seconds made him the first North American man to win a World Cup race since he last topped the podium almost three years ago.

“It’s amazing. Individual start, it’s a real man’s race. You’re there on your own,” Harvey said. “I’m really happy to be able to check that off.”

Standings leader and reigning World Cup champion Martin Johnsrud Sundby of Norway was six seconds off Harvey. Sweden’s Markus Hellner finished 14.3 seconds off the pace as he narrowly beat Switzerland’s Dario Cologna to the final podium spot.

Sundby stretched his lead in the standings to 257 points over Russia’s Sergei Ustyugov, with Finland’s Matti Heikkinen 220 points back of Ustyugov and Harvey in fourth.

Earlier, Norwegian veteran Marit Bjoergen won a women’s 10-kilometer freestyle race in 23:46.3 to underline her dominance of the event. She has now won seven of the last 15 10K freestyle races in the World Cup.

It was the first World Cup race ever held in Ulricehamn, meaning the 36-year-old Bjoergen has now won in a record 37 different host cities over the course of her career.

Finland’s Krista Parmakoski was second, 10.7 seconds off Bjoergen’s time, while Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla took third, 24.9 seconds off the lead. Norway’s Heidi Weng, who was sixth in Saturday’s race, leads the overall standings by 279 points over Parmakoski.