Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia - Ole Einar Bjoerndalen narrowly missed out on a 90th World Cup win Saturday when he was pipped to victory by fellow Norwegian Emil Hegle Svendsen in a 12.5-kilometre pursuit race in Khanty-Mansiysk.

Svendsen missed two targets in the shooting range on his way to victory in a time of 33 minutes 3.3 seconds, finishing just 0.1 seconds ahead of Bjoerndalen, who also missed two targets.

Austria's Christoph Sumann took third place, 23.8 seconds behind the winner, in a race that had to undergo a restart after problems with the timing system.

Bjoerndalen secured the season's World Cup biathlon title with second place in the men's 10-kilometre sprint on Thursday.

It was a sixth overall World Cup win for the 35-year-old who has equalled the record of Magdalena Forsberg of Sweden.

The biathlon World Cup continues later Saturday with a women's 10km pursuit race and concludes Sunday at the Siberian venue with men's and women's mass start races. (dpa)