March 13, 2005 – The Canadian men’s biathlon team sprinted to an impressive 15th place finish in their first-ever relay event at the world championships in Hochfilzen, Austria on Saturday.

Under a brilliant sunny sky and warm, spring-like temperatures, a crowd of 15 thousand fans watched and cheered as Ottawa’s Robin Clegg burst out of the mass start, surging into the top-five during the first leg of the relay race. In the end, the four-man contingency bearing the maple leaf crossed the finish line in the 4 x 7.5 kilometre relay just over six minutes off the leading pace with a time of one hour 28 minutes 25.0 seconds.

“We skied an exceptionally strong race,” said Robin Clegg, who received cheers from throngs of excited biathlon fans as he powered his way to the front of the pack. “We were definitely contending with the top teams and it just a great way to end the world championships.”

The Canadian quartet, which also included Jean Paquet of Loretteville, Que., Gerhardt Klann of Edmonton, and David Leoni of Camrose, Alta., finished the four-leg race after shooting 14 spare rounds, with one penalty loop. In relay events, each athlete is allowed six spare rounds to hit their 10 targets, and if a target remains after the three spares are used than a penalty loop ensues.

Norway led the men in Saturday’s sprint to take home the gold medal and world title. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, Halvard Hanevold, Stian Eckhoff and Egil Gjelland crossed the finish line first to soar to the top of the podium with their combined racing times of 1:21:59.2, using seven spare bullets to knock down all of their targets. Following Norway just +26 seconds behind was Sergei Rozhkov, Nikolay Kruglov, Pavel Rostovtsev and Sergei Tchepikov of Russia, who slid into second place to take the silver medal at 1:22:25.2, with just five extra bullets, while the Austrian team of Daniel Mesotitsch, Friedrich Pinter, Wolfgang Rottmann and Christoph Sumann posted a combined time of 1:22:42.5, using four extra bullets to hit all targets and claim the bronze medal.

“Our result today was very, very promising,” said Roger Archambault, technical director, Biathlon Canada. “The 15th place standing is one thing, but the time we finished off the lead is what is impressive. They’re basically in the five per cent range of the top nations and this definitely gives us something to work with heading into 2006.”

This is the first time in over five years that Canada has seen a men’s relay team compete on the international stage.