Marcus Hellner of Sweden captured gold in the men’s 30km cross-country pursuit with a time of one hour, 15:11.4.
The Canadians performed strongly led by Ivan Babikov who placed a national all-time best fifth in the event with a time of 1:15:20.5.
Babikov, who represented Russia in the 2006 Torino Games, performed strongly improving on his 13th place finish four years ago.
Fellow Canadian George Grey finished in eighth place with a time of 1:15:32.0. Much like Babikov, Grey improved upon his showing from Turin where he finished in 25th.
First time Canadian Olympian Alex Harvey finished right behind Grey with a time 1:15:43.0
Harvey, son of former Canadian Olympic skier Pierre Harvey who took part in the 1976 and 1988 Olympics finished well and looks to be a medal contender for years to come.
Devon Kershaw rounded out the Canadian contingent with a 16th place finish with a time of 1:16:23.6
Tobias Angerer of Germany captured silver with a time of 1:15:13.5 while Sweden’s Johan Olsson finished with the bronze with a time of 1:15:14.2
Olsson lead through the first phase of the competition but was soon overtaken by Hellner who never gave up leadership afterwards.
Matti Heikkinen of Finland, Sami Jauhojaervi of Finland, Martin Koukal of the Czech Republic, Segei Dolidovich of Belarus, Ville Nousiainen of Finland, Veslin Tzinov of Belarus, Petrica Hogiu of Romania, and Francois Soulie were unable to complete the race.
