The cold was a little too much for Canadian Alex Harvey to handle at Saturday's World Cup cross-country ski race.
The 22-year-old from St-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que., finished 17th in the 10-kilometre classic-ski race, clocking a time of 24 minutes, 8.4 seconds. That left him a little over 43 seconds behind leader Dario Cologna of Switzerland.
"It was really cold today and my toes were so frozen I couldn't feel my feet," said Harvey. "Usually I am conservative at the start, but I switched things up today and tried to go hard and stay with the top-five.
"I paid the price in the last five kilometres, but I am still happy that I can contend with the best right off the gun."
The World Cup event is set up as a three-race mini-tour that will wrap up on Sunday. Harvey will start nearly 22 seconds back of the leaders.
"It is a pursuit tomorrow so I'll be doing everything to chase the guys in front of me and stay ahead of those behind," said Harvey.
Devon Kershaw of Sudbury, Ont., will also be in the hunt for the podium in the final race. The two-time Olympian posted another solid result in a deep 10K field, finishing 22nd with a time of 24:13.6.
Other Canadian results included: Calgary's Brent McMurtry in 69th; Stefan Kuhn of Canmore, Alta., in 71st; George Grey of Rossland, B.C., in 79th; and Ivan Babikov of Canmore, Alta., in 83rd.
In the women's five-kilometre event won by Norway's Marit Bjoergen, Daria Gaiazova, of Banff, Alta., was the top Canadian in 45th. Chandra Crawford of Canmore, Alta., finished 67th.