Olivier Léveillé overcame many obstacles, but he nevertheless concluded his first Olympic experience in a good way when he ranked 27and in the 30 kilometer freestyle on Saturday. The originally scheduled race distance was 50 kilometers, but officials decided to lower it due to minus 17 degrees and strong winds blowing over the Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country Center.
Posted at 6:52
In addition to the difficult weather conditions, the Sherbrooke resident had to cover one kilometer of the race on a single ski, as he explained to his national federation.
“I’m really proud of my first Olympics, but it’s a bit bittersweet today [samedi], because I felt really good. I was well placed in the peloton and I was preparing to move up in the top 30, top 20 and unfortunately on the first lap, someone caught me and I broke a ski. Fortunately, technician Félix-Antoine Vézina had one, but I lost at least a minute on the peloton,” the 20-year-old Quebecer explained to Nordiq Canada.
Léveillé was at 33and rank with one lap to go and he was finally able to claim six places in the last 7 kilometers, including a last in the final sprint to conclude the race 4 minutes 21.6 seconds behind the winner, Alexander Bolshunov of the Russian Olympic Committee. The winner ends his Games with five medals, three of which are gold.
PHOTO CHRISTOF STACHE, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Alexander Bolshunov won a third Olympic title.
This is Léveillé’s best result in Beijing. The other Canadian entered, British Columbian Rémi Drolet, finished in 35and up (+4 minutes 54.4 seconds).
The French animated the start of the race and the men in red of the Russian Olympic Committee were very close and especially numerous. The representatives of Norway were also at the forefront, but their favorite Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo soon showed signs that he was not having a great day. The quadruple medalist at these Games returned to the locker room after only thirty minutes of racing.
Arriving late in Beijing due to a positive test for COVID-19, Simen Hegstad Krueger (+7 seconds) was the only Norwegian able to compete with the representatives of the Russian Olympic Committee at the end of the event. He was bronze medalist behind Ivan Yakimushkin (+5.5 seconds).
I am proud to have made it to the finish. It was a mental battle today: against myself and against the wind. I’m proud that I pushed to the end to get my second top 30 at these Games.
Olivier Leveille
The women’s 30 kilometer freestyle will be the last cross-country race on the Games program on Sunday (local time). The official start list has yet to be released at the time of this writing.