February 14, 2016 (Presque Isle, Me) – The final event in Presque Isle, the women’s 4x6km relay was moved up day due to the cold weather, and took place in the fading twilight as Team USA fought hard to finish 10th with one penalty and 12 spares as the Czech Republic took the victory with one penalty and 14 spares in 1:07:11.

Second place went to Ukraine, with seven spares at 25.2 seconds back edging out Germany who settled for third with a penalty and seven spares a mere 0.2 seconds behind.

 

American SusanDunklee, celebrating her 30th birthday, was off to a good start skiing with leader Franziska Preuss of Germany heading into the second shooting stage on the opening leg, but two extra rounds in standing knocked the team back to fourth place as Dunklee made the exchange with Hannah Dreissigacker.

Dreissigacker battled but fell back to 8th as she tagged Clare Egan who saw some daylight clawing back to sixth. But a trip to the penalty loop knocked the team back to 12th place. On the final leg Annelies Cook brought the squad back late in the race to claim the 10th on the day as she was all smiles at the finish.

The Canadian team of Zina Kocher, Emma Lunder, Audrey Vaillancourt and Erin Yungblut were lapped as they struggled on the range with two penalities and 12 spares.

“Despite an average day on the shooting range, we took a big step forward from where we have been all season,” Dunklee said. “This team is truly coming alive so world championships will be exciting.” The teams now enjoy a bit of rest as they gear up for the IBU World Championships in Oslo, Norway, March 2-13.

Results are available here.