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Canadian men make history in cross country pursuit

The Canadian colours were well represented in the top echelon of men's 30-km cross country ski pursuit as the only nation with three skiers in the top 10 at today's Whistler Olympic Park event. Ivan Babikov of Canmore led the way, just 9.

The Canadian colours were well represented in the top echelon of men's 30-km cross country ski pursuit as the only nation with three skiers in the top 10 at today's Whistler Olympic Park event.

Ivan Babikov of Canmore led the way, just 9.1 seconds back in fifth place with national team veteran, Rossland's George Grey, in eighth with a time of 1:15.32, immediately followed by Alex Harvey of Quebec, in ninth place.

"What we did is probably going to stay in the history books for some time three in the top 10," said Grey.

Devon Kershaw of Sudbury was 16th with 1:16:23.6.

It was a neck-to-neck-to-neck finish for the top three with two Swedes and a German athlete vying closely for first.

Marcus Hellner of Sweden edged past his teammate to finish first with a time of 1:15:11.4. Tobias Angerer of Germany came in 2.1 seconds behind for second and Johan Olsson came in another .7 seconds after that for bronze.

The double-win for the Swedes made it all the sweeter, said the 24-year-old gold medalist.

"The feeling is good," Hellner said. "When one of my best friends is on the podium, the feeling is even better."

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