The Swedes Johan Runesson and Albin Ridefelt claimed the top two spots in the prologue this morning, and will start first in the pursuit on Saturday afternoon in Aremark, Østfold. Tove Alexandersson has good margin before the pursuit in the women’s class.

The Swedish star runner was about 90 seconds in front of Russian Anastasia Rudnaya. The margins in the pursuit will however be multiplied by two, and increases to three minutes when it all will be decided in the TV broadcasted pursuit at 17:00 on Saturday. The men’s pursuit will commence one hour later.

Two more Swedes, Karolin Ohlsson and Sara Hagström, follow the two mentioned women. Maija Sianoja of Finland will enter the forests of Østfold as number five, right in front of Norway’s Marianne Andersen.

Behind the two leading Swedes in the men’s pursuit, Daniel Hubmann of Switzerland leads the chase. He is followed by Gustav Bergman (Sweden), Timo Sild (Estonia) and Nicolas Rio (France).

Even though the differences are being doubled from the prologue, everything is set for two thrilling pursuits, especially in the men’s race where the margins are small.