Sudbury skier Devon Kershaw retires after 15-year career

Canadian cross-country skier and Sudbury native Devon Kershaw is retiring after a 15 year career that took him to four Olympic games and several World Cup titles.

"It has been 15 great years chasing my dreams in a sport that I absolutely love, but I have a wife and a 15-month-old daughter now, and it is just getting harder and harder to be away," Kershaw said in a statement.

The 35-year-old athlete took home a total of 14 World Cup medals. He also won the gold medal at the Oslo 2011 World Championship alongside teammate Alex Harvey.

"It is really crazy to think now that I have been a part of breaking all of these records – winning the World Championships, the World Cup medals, and the first distance relay medal last year, and to see what Alex (Harvey) has been able to do," he said.  "It is just an amazing thing, and something I am very proud of."

Kershaw, who now lives in Norway with his wife and daughter, said he is looking forward to spending time with his family and plans on going back to school.

"There are a lot of tough choices you have to make being a cross-country skier from Canada," he said.

"We lived out of our suitcases while traveling around the world for more than seven months of the year. It was getting really tough to leave my family last year, so I'm looking forward to being close to home."