3 Canadians finish in cross-country top 10

Sweden's Marcus Hellner overtook compatriot Johan Olsson late to win the men's 30-kilometre pursuit, a cross-country race marked by three Canadians finishing in the top 10.

Olsson, part of Sweden's bronze-medal relay team at the 2006 Torino Games, led for the vast majority of the race but had to settle for bronze on a mild, sunny day at Whistler Olympic Park.

Hellner crossed in a time of one hour 15 minutes 11.4 seconds for gold, his first career Olympic medal. Tobias Angerer of Germany also overtook Olsson to capture silver, just 2.1 seconds off the pace.

Canada was the only country with three skiers in the top 10.

Ivan Babikov of Canmore, Alta., led the way, just 9.1 seconds back in fifth place.

National team veteran George Grey of Rossland, B.C., was eighth in 1:15.32, immediately followed by Alex Harvey of St-Ferreol-les-nieges, Que., in ninth place.

Harvey was 11 seconds behind Grey.

Devon Kershaw of Sudbury, Ont. was 16th at 1:16.23.6. A total of 64 from around the world entered the competition.

The Canadians took turns flirting with the lead pack. Grey and Babikov were sitting sixth and seventh respectively at the 22.5k mark, with Harvey overtaking them for a while.

Grey is competing with a broken thumb.

"I crashed two days ago and bent it backwards," the 30-year-old said. "It's either sprained or broken and who knows? I don't care. I'm racing with it. I'm at the Olympics."

"My goal was to put my legs and the rest of body in more pain than my thumb and I wouldn't even notice it," he added.

Canadian men have never reached the Olympic podium, but the performance was cause for hope.

To put it into perspective, the top trio of Canadians finished ahead of previous Olympic medallists Petter Northug of Norway, Dario Cologna of Switzerland and Pietro Piller Cotter of Italy.

Harvey is by far the youngest, at 20 years old. He is the son of Pierre Harvey, who competed in cross country and cycling to become Canada's first-ever male athlete to make both the Summer and Winter Games.

In addition to strong team tactics, the competition was staged in the temperatures of about 11 C. Most skiers shed their tuques as a result.

"It is crazy hot, but it makes for beautiful pictures," said Kershaw. "It's not super wintry, but I got a nice tan."

The race features a mass start with 15 kilometres of classical skiing before switching to skate (freestyle) skiing.

Olsson had pulled away right after the ski change and led by as much as 26 seconds with just five kilometres to go before the chasing pack upped the pace to close the gap.

Alexander Legkov of Russia, who would wind up fourth, led the chase.