Devon Kershaw (born December 20, 1982) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

retired cross-country skier who competed from 2005 to 2018. Growing up in

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario ** Sudbury (federal electoral district) ** Sudbury (provincial electoral district) ** Sudbury Airport ** Sudbury Basin, a meteorite impact cra ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada, he split his time between several sports before choosing to focus on his cross-country ski career. His career highlights include placing second overall in the World Cup standing in 2011/2012 and claiming the World Champion title in 2011 at the World Ski Championships in Oslo, Norway in the men's team sprint with teammate Alex Harvey.

Early life and career

Kershaw grew up in the

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on p ...

city of Sudbury. His father, Will, and mother, Maureen, were instrumental in developing and nurturing a love of the natural environment and active lifestyle. Kershaw was a serious sports enthusiast growing up, playing hockey, volleyball, badminton, and tennis, and running competitively in his younger years. Skiing for Laurentian Nordic as a young skier in Sudbury, he participated in three World Junior Championships (2000, 2001, 2002) and won 18 National Junior Medals. As a senior racer he moved west to

Canmore, Alberta Canmore is a List of towns in Alberta, town in Alberta, Canada, located approximately west of Calgary near the southeast boundary of Banff National Park. It is located in the Bow Valley within Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains. The to ...

, home of Canada's National Ski Team, to pursue his athletic dreams and pursuits.

Athletic career

In the 2005 World Championships in

Oberstdorf Oberstdorf (Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Oberschdorf'') is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality and skiing and hiking town in Germany, located in the Allgäu region of the Bavarian Alps. It is the southernmost settlement in German ...

finished 14th in the individual sprint. He was also the first Canadian male cross country skier to medal in the sprint category – placing third in the Freestyle Sprint in

Borlänge Borlänge () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 44,898 inhabitants as of 2020. It is the seat of the Borlänge Municipality which as of 2017 had a total population of 51,604 inhabitants. History Originally Bor ...

, Sweden, on March 7, 2006. In November 2006, he skied his way into the history books again by placing a best finish for a Canadian male in more than 10 years in a World Cup event – 2nd in the Men's 15 kilometre classic race in Saariselkae, Finland. During the first

Tour de Ski The Tour de Ski (TdS) is a cross-country skiing event held annually since the 2006–07 season in Central Europe. The Tour de Ski is a Stage World Cup event in the FIS Cross-Country World Cup. Each Tour de Ski has consisted of six to nine stages ...

in 2006–2007, Kershaw came 2nd in the first Stage – the Freestyle Sprint. Unfortunately, Kershaw became ill and was unable to finish the Tour. In 2009, Kershaw and the Canadian team finish sixth in the 4 x 10 km relay in the

Liberec Liberec (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 108,000 inhabitants, making it the fifth largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse River, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preserved and is pr ...

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

, the highest placing ever for the Canadian Team. In the

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

, Kershaw's best individual finish was fifth in the 50 km event, and fourth in the

team sprint The team sprint (also sometimes known as the Olympic sprint) is a track cycling event. Despite its name, it is not a conventional cycling sprint event – it is a three-rider team time trial held over three laps of a velodrome. The riders use a ...

with teammate Alex Harvey. This is the best placing ever for Canadian men in an Olympic cross-country competition. In the 2011 tour de ski, Kershaw came in first in one of the sprint stages, beating

Dario Cologna Dario Cologna (born 11 March 1986) is a Swiss retired cross-country skier. He has four overall World Cup victories, four Olympic gold medals, one World Championships gold medal and four Tour de Ski victories in his career. On 3 November 2021, ...

, and

Petter Northug Petter Northug Jr. (born 6 January 1986) is a Norwegian former cross-country skier and double Olympic champion. He won a total of 13 World Championship and two Winter Olympic gold medals with 20 medals overall (two gold, one silver and one bron ...

. In the

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

2011 World Championship Kershaw and Harvey won the gold medal in the

, bringing Canada their first ever gold and second World Championship medal ever, the first being

Sara Renner Sara Renner (born April 10, 1976) is a Canadian cross-country skier who competed from 1994 to 2010. With Beckie Scott, she won the silver medal in the team sprint event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and earned her best individual finish o ...

's bronze in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

. In the 2012 Tour de Ski, Kershaw came in fourth place overall, the best a Canadian has ever done. Kershaw had his best ever season in 2011/2012, finishing second overall in the World Cup standings. He was on the podium in six world cup podiums with two gold, one silver, and three bronze.

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games

World Championships

* 1 medal – (1 gold)

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

* 3 victories – (2 , 1 ) * 14 podiums – (6 , 8 )

Team podiums

* 1 podium – (1 )

Personal life

Kershaw is the eldest of three children, sister Linnaea is a journalism student in Vancouver and brother Sean an Art History student in Montreal. Beyond skiing Kershaw plans to return to school to pursue a degree in medicine, with the eventual goal of becoming doctor specializing in sports medicine. He is married to Norwegian cross-country skier

Kristin Størmer Steira Kristin Størmer Steira (born 30 April 1981) is a retired Norwegian cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skier. She competed from 2002 to 2015, and won six individual FIS Cross-Country World Cup, World Cup victories and five individual meda ...

, the two having been together since December 2012 and married since July 2015,VG.no (Norwegian)
/ref> and has one daughter, born in 2017.

References

External links

* * *
Official Site

Bio at Cross Country Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kershaw, Devon 1982 births Canadian male cross-country skiers Cross-country skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2018 Winter Olympics FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing Tour de Ski skiers Living people Olympic cross-country skiers for Canada Sportspeople from Greater Sudbury 21st-century Canadian sportsmen