December 11, 2017 (Ostersund, Sweden) – Team USA raced to a 9th-place finish on Sunday in the men’s 4×7.5-kilometer relay as Norway claimed a solo victory in windy Hochfilzen with Germany second and France third. The Canadian team was 15th overall as the BMW IBU World Cup 2 came to a close.

The squad of Lowell Bailey, Leif Nordgren, Tim Burke and Sean Doherty, were as high as third but suffered three penalties and used 13 spares in the 26-team field to finish 3:38.3 behind the Norwegians who used nine spares finishing in 1:21:21.8.

Germany used 17 spares at 1:54.9 behind the winners while France, in third, had three penalties and 13 spares at 2:34 behind Norway. Canada’s Christian Gow, Scott Gow, Nathan Smith and Brendan Green suffered six penalties with 20 spares finishing 6:22.5 behind.

Two days of heavy snow turned into overcast skies for the men’s relay, with temperatures at minus 10 Celsius. The wind was gusty at first but picked up dramatically from the left, making shooting extremely difficult.

The teams now travel to Annecy-Le Grand Bornand, France, for BMW IBU World Cup 3 taking place Dec. 14-17.

Full results here.