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.

In the women's 10km race, six-time world champion Magdalena Neuner of Germany took the honours, leaving the battle for the overall World Cup to be decided between Kati Wilhelm of Germany and Sweden's Helena Jonsson in Sunday's mass start event.

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 and now has 1,032 points with Sunday's mass start remaining in the season.

Poland's Tomasz Sikora remains second on 863, followed by Svendsen on 818 points.

Neuner missed two targets as she won in a time of 27:53.0 minutes while Italy's Michela Ponza produced flawless shooting on her way to second place, 28.8 seconds behind the winner. France's Marie Dorin missed one target as came home in third spot, 30.5 seconds adrift of Neuner.

Jonsson trailed home in 16th place while Wilhelm's 19th-place was enough to secure the German the pursuit title for the season with 272 points after seven races from Tora Berger of Norway (246) and Germany's Martina Beck (244).

In the overall standings, Jonsson now has 915 points, just one point clear of Wilhelm (914) with only Sunday's mass start event remaining. Neuner lies third with 878 points, followed by Berger on 866. (dpa)