Alex Harvey of Canada competes during the cross-country skiing men's 15km free at Alpensia Cross-Country Centre on Feb. 16, 2018 in Pyeongchang South Korea.Clive Mason
Alex Harvey needed to "restart the machine" after his rough outing in the sprint classic, and that allowed him to rebound for a second top-10 finish at the Winter Olympics.
The Saint-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que., native finished seventh in the 15-kilometre free on Friday with a solid effort.
Switzerland's Dario Cologna, 31, won his third gold medal in the distance and fourth overall. He was dominant, beating Norway's Simen Hegstad Krueger in 18.3 seconds. Denis Spitsov from the Olympic Athletes from Russia was third.
Harvey, who finished 35.5 seconds behind Cologna, was satisfied with his performance.
"A top-10 like that, it's always good even if at the Games the medals count and other results don't mean as much," Harvey said. "I had a good race on a really good course. I'm only missing just a little spark to reach the podium.
"It's difficult to explain what it takes to reach the podium. You just have to fall on a good day. I know that it's not far. The goal is the podium, but I skied 100 per cent."
Harvey still has three chances to win Canada's Olympic medal in men's cross-country skiing: the 4x10km relay on Sunday, the team sprint on Wednesday and the 50km mass start, where he's the world champion, on Feb. 24.
Harvey started these Games with an eighth-place finish in the skiathlon on Sunday. He was then eliminated in the qualifications in the sprint classic on Tuesday and ended with a 32nd-place finish.
He took a day off on Monday, a decision that wasn't planned before the sprint, but could be potentially beneficial for the rest of the competition.
"If a skier recovers a bit better, it can make five, six, seven or 10 seconds difference," said Harvey's coach, Louis Bouchard. "Someone who recovers less good, they'll be three or four seconds behind."
Harvey was fourth mid-race in the 15k, less than two seconds from the podium, but said he couldn't pick up the pace at the end.
"It was going well. I didn't break, but when it's a super day, you accelerate near the end," Harvey said. "Me, I just stayed at the same rhythm and there were some that accelerated.
"I wasn't able to accelerate at the finish like I had to do to get on the podium."
Graeme Killick from Fort McMurray, Alta., was 38th while Knute Johnsgaard of Whitehorse and Devon Kershaw of Sudbury, Ont., had difficult days, placing 69th and 71st, respectively.