November 26, 2012 (Ostersund, SWE) – The Russian team of Olga Zaitseva, Olga Vilukhina, Alexey Volkov, and Evgeny Ustyogov claimed victory in the opening event of the 2012-13 IBU World Cup season finishing in a time of 1:12:41.3 with six spare rounds.  Second was Norway with 10 spare rounds and third was the Czech Republic with 8 spare rounds.

According to the athletes, the course conditions were excellent today. Previously, snow conditions were soft, but race day temperatures cooled and the track was hard with the downhill sections in excellent skiing shape.

Team Canada, made up of Jean-Philippe Le Guellec, Zina Kocher, Megan Imrie, and Scott Perras finished in 16th position, posting a time of 1:17:48.0. Kocher, who kicked things off for the Canucks took advantage of fast skis. The 29-year-old shot clean in standing, but had difficulties in prone shooting under cool conditions.  “I know my form is there and ready to go for the rest of the year,” said Kocher. “I did have difficulties in pron, but these things happen, and I know we can work out the problems and perform better at the World Championships. Definitely a great warm up to get the jitters out and fall into a routine.”

Perras, who has been battling through a knee injury this fall, was satisfied with his opening race effort.  “Overall I am happy with my race because I didn’t have many expectations today,” said Perras.  “I just wanted to have some fun and get some momentum going for the rest of the up coming races.”  Le Guellec, who raced the final leg of the relay, looks for the team to improve as the season progresses. “It was a rough start for us as a team. We had a few issues, but it will be great to see what we’re capable of once these issues are fixed,” said Le Guellec.  “I felt good and strong considering it was the season-opener and my shooting was on too, but looking back I started a bit too conservative.”

Especially for the relay, Le Guellec says it’s important to avoid using spare rounds and the penalty loop.  Unfortunately for Canada, they needed to use spare rounds and were required to ski the penalty loop.  “When you look at ski times, we were in the game,” Le Guellec told SkiTrax.  “We have a couple of days to assess what happened, remedy to it and come back ready for the individual on Wednesday”

Following right behind the Canadians was Team USA comprised of Susan Dunklee, Sara Studebaker, Jay Hakkinen, and Lowell Bailey finishing in 17th place with a time of 1:17:50.5.  “Conditions were pretty good given the fact that there is not much snow,” said Bernd Eisenbichler, US Biathlon high performance director in a team release. “Organizers have working hard to get the best for the athletes.  Dunklee agreed, “…the course tonight was hard and fast with no deep ruts.  It was in the best shape that we have seen since we got here over 10 days ago.”

Being the first race of the competition, Dunklee was looking to blow out the cobwebs and to remember what it was like to race hard.  “It certainly would have been nice to end up higher on the results sheet tonight, but that will come later,” Dunklee told SkiTrax.  “There is a lot of room to improve on the skis and on the range and I am excited about that.  It feels great to finally have the season underway and I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.”

Dunklee’s teammate Bailey, who anchored the Americans, was satisfied with his race today.  “You always wonder what the ski speed will be like going into the season and I was happy to see that I was there with the top guys in course time,” said Bailey.  “The shooting was average and I hope to improve on that moving towards Wednesday’s [20km] Individual.”

Like the Canadians, Team USA is hopeful for the opportunities to improve and move up in the standings in the mixed relay event. Biathlon World Cup competition continues in Oestersund on Wednesday with the Men’s 20 km Individual.

Full results HERE.