Alex Harvey (photo: olympic.com)

This is the Olympics, so this comment will be short!

Unless he gets terribly unlucky with his waxing jobs in every upcoming race, Alex Harvey will get on a podium in Sochi. All passionate souls who saw his skiathlon race also heard or read about his «no kick and no glide» skis.

by Pierre Shanks

It happens, it’s part of the sport, but with the quality waxmen in the canadian camp, this is not going to happen in every race.

Alex has a shot in the freestyle sprints on Tuesday. Why?

1- With skate skis, waxing is no big issue, so athletes are more on a level playing field.

2- After that skiatlon, the man will be more than hungry for a top result.

3- His coach Louis Bouchard will settle him down and get him ready to bounce back.

Alex has one of the best coaches in the world. Any skier we have ever interviewed or talked to about Louis Bouchard have all said the same thing. Every single one of them. Louis always finds the right words.

So Alex will be ready and eager to prove his shape on Tuesday, and he’s in the best shape of his life right now.

He has mentioned his best chance at a podium in Sochi will be in the team sprint with big bro Devon Kershaw. We also like his chances in the 4×10 km relay, if Lenny Valjas’ form (after a knee injury) can be good enough so he can keep his grounds in his relay. Devon and Ivan Babikov are sure values. And of course, after his 3rd place in the Trondheim 50 five years ago, Alex is always a threat in a 50 km race, the last event on Feb. 23rd.

Certainly the competition will be fierce on Tuesday and we all know anything can happen in individual sprints where it sometimes looks like a NASCAR race.

But his chances are as good as anybody else’s.

I put my green tea on him.