November 26, 2011 (Kuusamo, FIN) – Petter Northug of Norway grabbed the overall lead in the World Cup mini-tour in Kussamo today with a convincing win in the men’s individual start 10k freestyle race. Northug was on fire after yesterday’s lacklustre sprint effort and won by a margin of 23.8 seconds over his nearest rival, Roland Clara of Italy. France’s Maurice Magnificat was third. Dario Cologna (SUI) and Chris Jespersen (NOR) rounded out the top 5.

The North American men put in a decent effort, led by Canada’s Ivan Babikov, who finished 16th. The USA’s Kris Freeman lead the American men with a solid 24th place finish today. Babikov’s top 20 will come as a relief to the Canadian team, showing that they can still put three skiers in the top 30 in a distance event.  Today’s result also helps erase any memories of the slow start Babikov had last season, including an 83rd in last year’s 10k event at Kuusamo.

The Czech Republic’s Lukas Bauer made his World Cup debut this weekend and finished 10th, while Germany finally made an impression with Tobias Angerer in 14th and Jens Fllbrich in 18th.

With the margin of today’s victory, Northug vaults into first place overall with an 11.8-second gap on Cologna, his nearest rival. Russia’s Alexander Legkov is in third. The overall leader going into today’s competition, Nikita Kriukov of Russia, did not start this morning’s race and is out of the tour.

Canada’s Alex Harvey couldn’t quite equal his 5th place performance from Sjusjoen (NOR) last weekend, but still put in a decent race at 27th. Devon Kershaw, who has struggled to find his form so far this season, finished just outside the points today in 32nd. Farther back were Graham Nishikawa in 48th and Len Valjas in 55th, followed by teammates Kevin Sandau (69th) and Drew Goldsack (83).

With a 55th place finish on the day Valjas falls down the overall rankings, but the 44-second time bonus he earned in yesterday’s sprint mitigated some of the damage. He remains the top Canadian in 17th overall followed by Babikov who leapt up to 20th overall, and then it’s Harvey in 24th.

For the rest of the US teamers Tad Elliott was further back in 46th, Noah Hoffman placed 68th, followed by Lars Flora in 86th. Andy Newell finished a disappointing 100th. Freeman currently sits in 32nd in the overall standings.

Men’s 10k freestyle results HERE.
Overall results after Day 2 HERE.