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Interviews Interview with Devon Kershaw: "It will be the opportunity of a lifetime for all our team members." |
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| 13.06.2009 | |||
Interview with Devon Kershaw: "It will be the opportunity of a lifetime for all our team members."Info: Weitere Sportlerinterviews und TerminplanAutor: Patrick Chojnowski The Canadian cross-country skier Devon Kershaw finished 18th in the world cup overall standing and 21st at the Tour de Ski last season. He is one of the biggest promises of the Olympic Games host country next year. With Live-Wintersport he talks about the last season and his aims for the Olympic Games in his own country. Cross-Country is not what they call a popular sport in Canada. Most people have always been interested in ice hockey. What happened that you started cross-country skiing? It's true, hockey is and always will be king of all sports in Canada. Believe it or not, I also played ice hockey for 9 years - but skiing was where my heart was. I started skiing because of my parents. They were and still are avid cross-country skiers themselves, so from a very young age I was on snow skiing with them on the local ski trails. Although not at all pushy, they encouraged me and my siblings to do whatever our passions were - and I just loved the sport of Nordic skiing. They've both always competed in the local loppets and races, so as I aged I began to enter them as well - and I was pretty good at it! You finished 18th in the world cup overall standing last season and you especially improved in the distance world cup. How satisfied are you with the season’s development? I was very satisfied indeed. It was my best-ever season, and I accomplished a lot of my goals that I had set out to attack and achieve last spring. For the past few years I've been striving for consistency, because for me, I believe it's a lot easier to be a contender at big championships if you are always "in there" during the regular World Cup races. It's taken a few years of dedicated hard work, but now I am stronger in the distance cup standings, as apposed to sprinting. I had a lot of highlights, especially in distance classic races, and it was very special and exciting for me to be back on the international podium (3rd in Oberhof Tour de Ski stage #2) after not being on the podium at all in the 2007/08 season. Sprinting was just so-so this year, which was frustrating. I feel as though I was a faster sprinter - but for whatever reason in the rounds I wasn't able to use that speed and thus had disappointing end results. I will work very hard on those tactics throughout the summer to be better in the sprint events next year. Another disappointment was falling ill AGAIN during the Tour de Ski. It was the 3rd time in a row for me - and it really cost me a chance at the top 10 which was the goal (and I was very well positioned to do that before getting quite sick). The Championships in Liberec did not go very well but with the relay you finished 5th which was the highlight. Due to the improvements of the whole team and especially of Alex Harvey next year even better results might follow. How do you assess the development in the Canadian cross-country team? Without a doubt the combined value of Alex Harvey coming on so strong at the end of the season, and Ivan Babikov finally getting his Canadian citizenship had a serious affect on our team. 5th in the relay at World Championships was an amazing accomplishment for our young team, and I truly believe that after a year of hard work together we could very well be able to compete for medals at next years Olympic games in that event. As for my World Championships, as everyone knows - it was a very tricky one weather-wise. I missed the skis a few times, and as a result struggled to be at all competitive. I was thrilled to be able to show my good shape in the relay - and as I said, it was a wonderful day for us all. With regards to the development of our team, I think we're all benifiting from gained international experience every year, and are able to be so much more comfortable on the World Cup. It can be tough as a young Canadian racer to pack your bags and leave your friends and family for months on end to race in Europe - living out of a suitcase, and hopping from hotel to hotel, week after week. But, as the years go on, and you live that lifestyle more and more, you become more and more comfortable. It helps that our team is so tight as friends too - something I attest to our improvements on the ski trails. Also, without a doubt it's been amazing working with World-Class coaches such as Steinar Mundal, Arild Monsen, and now Inge Braten (although he's brand-new, and we don't quite know how it will workout... his reputation is stellar!) over the past few years. Our system is solid, and their added expertise has been a great addition. It's also funny, as once a few start getting results, others in the country believe that they too can make the leap. I think much like the girls from 2000 - 2006 when Beckie Scott was able to really boost the level of the entire womens team, our mens team now has the leadership and results from a few of us that's working well to inspire the younger skiers to believe they can compete internationally - which they are, and they believe in themselves younger and younger. At the Tour de Ski you came 21st but you had also bad luck in the sprint events. Anyhow, you showed that you have got qualities both the classic technique and skating. And your strength in sprints is also undeniable. What do you think you can expect from yourself at race stages? Stage races are an amazing format for everyone involved - both the racers and fans. I love the format - it's exciting, easy to understand and they create a much better/broader story. For me personally - they are my big focus for the years to come. As you've stated, I've shown the ability to be competitive in many different distances/disciplines and to win the Tour de Ski, or the mini-Tours that FIS is implementing, your talent needs to be versatile. I need to sort out my health issues (getting sick 3 years in a row at the Tour de Ski must stop!) if I hope to achieve my goals, but in the very near future I hope to be a favorite in these events, as they've really grabbed my heart! Next season, the Tour de Ski will coincide partially with the Olympic Games. Are you still planning on taking the Tour or will you completely concentrate on the Olympic Games? The latter would mean that you skipped a couple of World Cup races… I fully intend on competing in the 2009/10 Tour de Ski event. It will be both a huge secondary focus for the year (the primary focus will of course be the Olympic Games) and I will both train and allow myself to be 100% at this year's Tour. As I stated above, I love the stage race format, and I believe that it is a format that suits me the absolute best - so I wouldn't miss it for the world. That said, I will be skipping a few more World Cup events this year ahead of the 2010 games in Vancouver. I won't be in Eastern Europe to compete in the Estonia or Russian World Cups post-Tour de Ski, and I may skip a weekend here or there both in the fall - and spring, depending on how my preparation and energy is progressing. Olympic Games in your own country of course depict a highlight in your career and the entire Canadian cross-country skiing team. What are your ambitions? Are you maybe even aiming for a medal? It will indeed be the opportunity of a lifetime for all our team members. Never again will any of us (current members of our National Team) be able to compete in an Olympic Games on home snow - and it may be 50 years until we see the Olympics back in Canada - who knows right! It's a huge opportunity, one that we've been preparing for since the last race in Torino - 4 years ago. Although I will still be young by cross-country skiing terms (I'll have just turned 27 ahead of the games), I want to capitalize on the gift of being able to compete at home. I think that I may have a better chance in Sochi 4 years later at 31, but I want to make the most of the opportunity next February in Vancouver. My ambitions? Like most competing in the Olympics, I want the best-ever performances out of my body - and to me I believe that means podium performances. In the skate sprint relay and the traditional relay I believe that if we are on our game - we will be competitive for that elusive top 3 Olympic performance. In the individual races, I will attack the mass start format races, and although realistically top 8 performances are the target, I still hope/believe that on a great day I can be in the fight for a medal. In Turin, especially the Canadian female team members were successful with Chandra Crawford winning gold and Beckie Scott and Sara Renner winning silver. By now there seems to be a change though. The male team is ahead of the female. How well, do you think, can the Canadian team perform in the next year, especially with reference to the Olympic Games? It's true, while I was developing it was all about our female team. Beckie Scott and Sara Renner really paved the way for great performances, such as Chandra's surprising gold in Torino. Now, it seems as though our men's team is the stronger of the two - but Chandra will be healthy and hungry for redemption after a year off dealing with injury, and Sara Renner will be a force as well, with one more year of experience behind her and the added incentive of competing at home. As a team, it's no stretch to see that we have half a dozen individuals that are internationally "there." For example, Alex is a phenom and "the real deal" - confident, talented and more than capable in many different events, and a guy like Ivan is such a seriously tough competitor and in that hilly 15km skate he'll be dangerous, I'm sure of it. Add in Chandra, Sara, our relay team, and myself - that's a more that decent squad of skiers! I believe we are capable of topping our 2006 results as a team. we had 2 medals in Torino, and I'd like to see at least that many coming from Canada in 2010. It's a tall order, but I believe our team can make it happen if we're able to stay healthy, hit the skis, and continue to improve at the rate we've been improving over the last few years. How do you like the Olympic routes in Whistler? Do you consider them as the most challenging in your agenda and which World Cup stations are they comparable with? They are more than satisfactory racing trails. We (zero athletes on the Canadian Nordic team) had zero input into their construction, and other than a few little minor issues I think they are adequate. They are definitely not the most challenging trails on the World Cup circuit, but the long gradual hills will be tough and as I've said - they are very unique trails. For instance, some of the descents have sharp curves on them - but not in the traditional sense. It seems the corners seem to get sharper and sharper as you ski around them! I wouldn't compare them to any of the sites used these days on the current World Cup - they are that unique. The stadium is small and intimate, and because of this - the Olympic trails will have a vastly different feel to any championship in recent history, which is again unique for a championship course. It's not my favorite site in the World - but it's just so hard to beat Canmore's great trails!! Haha, but I'm so excited to ski there - it's a beautiful spot! The biggest challenge facing us in Vancouver is going to be the weather. It's so close to the Pacific Ocean, so things can change quickly. It will be an exciting and stressful 16 days for the technicians that's for sure! What do your preparations for the next season look like? Do you already plan how many training kilometres there will be, the number of which playing a major role concerning your performance in winter? We are already in full swing with our preparations ahead of next year's Olympic Games. We will take part in a variety of different training camps throughout the year (right now we are actually in Vernon, British Columbia skiing up on the 2005/06 World Cup trails up on Silver Star Mountain!), and as for the actual training - we will tweak a few things here and there but continue to use the same model that we've been following. I'll do a slight increase in hours, and change the peaking tactics a little so that it may coincide with the Olympics, but aside from that, we won't change all that much. It's a 4 year plan, and this is the 4th year - so we'll do our best to focus and improve, but at the same time keep it fun, exciting and loose - because a happy skier is a fast skier! Live-Wintersport would like to thank you very much and wishes you good health and successful preparations for the next season. |
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13.06.2009 | ||
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