March 21, 2010 (Falun, SWE) – The FIS Viessemann XC World Cup finale, a mini-tour of the last four events in the series, concluded on Sunday with Petter Northug (NOR) winning the mini-tour and claiming the overall World Cup title as well. He took the opportunity throughout the race to shake hands along the course enjoying the day while savouring his victory. France’s Maurice Manificat had a phenomenal race starting in 12th almost two minutes back to finish only 3.4 seconds behind Northug. His lead over third place Marcus Hellner (SWE) was a solid 7.3 seconds.

Canada’s Ivan Babikov continued to rebound after a post-Olympic illness, to place 17th overall in the mini-tour at 3:13.3 back. Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey finished 31st and 32nd respectively. The USA’s Andy Newell put in some good distance skiing this weekend to finish 40th overall while fellow American, Brian Gregg, came back after tangling with the pack on the bridge yesterday, to finish 41st.

Northug, who also won the distance overall cup, had already locked up the overall series title with 1,621 points over Lukas Bauer (CZE) in second with 1,021 followed by Marcus Hellner (SWE) in 3rd. Newell lead the North Americans with a solid 19th place overall finish followed by Babikov in 23rd.

Men’s 15km Free results here.
Men’s Mini-Tour results here.
Men’s Overall WCup standings here.

Results (brief)
1. Petter Northug (NOR) 44:30.8
2. Maurice Manificat (FRA) +3.4
3. Marcus Hellner (SWE) +11.0
17. Ivan Babikov (CAN) +3:13.3
31. Devon Kershaw (CAN) +4:47.5
32. Alex Harvey (CAN) +5:28.1
40. Andrew Newell (USA) +9:43.3
41. Brian Gregg (USA) +9:55.5

Final Overall  (brief)
1. Petter Northug (NOR) 1,621
2. Lukas Bauer (CZE) 1,021
3. Marcus Hellner (SWE) 985

19. Andrew Newell (USA) 313
23. Ivan Babikov (CAN) 295
40. Devon Kershaw (CAN) 190
48. Alex Harvey (CAN) 167