March 20, 2010 (Falun, Sweden) – Petter Northug (NOR) took charge once again in the final sprint of the men’s 20km pursuit to score another victory over Tobias Angerer (GER) who grabbed second in a photo-finish with Lukas Bauer (CZE) in third. Canada’s Ivan Babikov lead the North Americans with a strong 13th place finish followed by team mate Alex Harvey in 22nd.

Harvey and Babikov were with the middle of the lead group of close to 30 skiers that fractured on the final climb which saw Harvey drop off the pace but Babikov was able to keep his momentum to claim 13th. Canada’s Devon Kershaw also suffered on the climb ending up 37th while Andrew Newell (USA) was 39th and Brian Gregg (USA) finished in 48th. Graham Nishikawa (CAN) did not start and is likely sick.

Northug has a stronghold on the overall WCup title with 1,421 points while Bauer is second with 963 pts and Marcus Hellner (SWE) is third with 865. Newell is in 19th with 313 points while Babikov is in 27th with 265 points.

Men’s 20km pursuit final results here.

Men’s WCup overall standings here.

Results (brief)

1. Petter Northug (NOR) 1:00:03.7
2. Tobias Angerer (GER) 1:00:05.4
3. Lukas Bauer (CZE) 1:00:05.5

13. Ivan Babikov (CAN) 1:00:32.8
22. Alex Harvey (CAN) 1:00:41.1
37. Devon Kershaw (CAN)  1:01:36.2
39. Andrew Newell (USA) 1:02:03.6
48. Brian Gregg (USA) 1:04:46.0
DNS Graham Nishikawa (CAN)