Mar 08, 2010- 4:14 PM
This was the second go at the Olympics for the young athlete, who made his Olympic debut in Torino, Italy. Using those games as experience, he entered the 2010 Olympics with the goal of achieving best times for his cross-country season, and had five opportunities to accomplish that goal.
He kicked off his second Olympic journey with the classic sprint on day three of the games. “The goal for the day was to just get the 2010 Olympics underway,” he wrote on his website, www.devonkershaw.com. “But honestly, I was hoping for the best classic sprint of the season.”
However, the race didn’t go quite according to plan.
“To finish 23rd wasn’t what I was hoping for, especially in a long and demanding classic sprint course, which I thought would play into my strengths.”
But it was enough to move onto the quarter-final round. However, after posting a fifth-place finish in his heat, the quarter-finals were as far as Kershaw would go that day.
“I was 1.6 seconds from being Olympic champion.”
“Prior to the race, I was pretty nervous for the 30-km,” Kershaw wrote. “For one, it was my first pursuit race of the year, as well as being my first distance race of these Olympics. I didn’t know how it was going to go, and I wanted, so badly, to throw down a stellar day in front of the home crowd in one of my favorite distances.”
With melting snow underfoot, Kershaw said it made for a tough day of racing. However, he still managed a personal best Olympic result, placing 16th in the field.
“Like the classic sprint, I was again disappointed with my race,” he wrote. “While it was far better than the sprint, it fell short of my expectation.”
While the first two events left the skier wanting more, event number three — the team sprint — saw Kershaw and teammate Alex Harvey take the “wooden medal,” — a fourth place finish, just 1.6 seconds back from the leaders, and Kershaw’s top Olympic performance.
“I felt amazing out there,” he wrote. “Fourth is both amazing and a tough pill to swallow... Alex was superb. I feel privileged to have shared this historic day with him.”
A week and a half into the Olympics and Kershaw was up for event number four — the 4x10-km relay. Once again, the weather played havoc with the course, and “was a mess of a day to be classic skiing.”
Still riding the fourth place finish in the team sprint, Kershaw was confident heading into what has become one of his best events. “It has been five years since I’ve had a 10-km relay leg where I haven’t came in either in first, or right with the leaders. The first leg of the 4x10-km relay is my best, and most consistent race.”
He called the race a tough fought, emotional battle, and marked it as one he’d like to forget. “I will use this as fuel. I will do everything in my power to make sure that race will never happen again.”
It was his fifth and final event that had Canada’s eyes turned toward the budding skier. The 50-km mass start — the marathon of the Winter Games — saw Kershaw miss the podium by roughly the length of a ski.
According to CBC.ca, he skied strong through the first 40 kilometres of the race, skiing in the lead pack, and at times, seemed to be flying past other racers. But the end came down to a sprint, with Kershaw crossing the line 1.6 seconds back from the gold medal time, and 0.6 seconds from bronze.
“I paced that race perfectly,” he was quoted saying. “I did everything exactly as planned and I got beat by four stronger skiers today.”
Following the race, Kershaw, racked with emotion, spoke to the television media. “I accomplished everything, and more than I would have hoped. But I was 1.6 seconds from being Olympic champion. After racing two hours plus and being 1.6 seconds out, it stings.”
He may not have won a medal, but he marked the best-ever finish by a Canadian in that event.
At 27 years old, Kershaw said he is considered young to be an Olympic champion “Being an endurance sport, it takes many years to mature to be a ‘favourite,’” he said. “This sport sees a vast majority of its champions over 30 years of age.”
Watch for Kershaw on the podium at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. As they say, the third time’s a charm.
