Team Norway's (l-r): Synnoeve Solemdal, Hilde Fenne, Ann Kristin Aafedt Flatland, and Tora Berger celebrate their relay victory. © Nordic Focus

January 09, 2013 (Ruhpolding, GER) – Conditions were ideal for the women’s 4x6km relay at the IBU WCup round #5 in Ruhpolding which featured a hard fast track, no wind, mild temperatures, and a large and boistrous crowd. Team Norway made up of Fenne, Flatland, Solemdal and Berger took the win with a time of 1:08:13.3 and four spare rounds. The Russian team of  Glazyrina, Vilukhina, Shumilov was second while the Czech Republic (Vitkova, Soukalova, Cerna and Zvaricova) took third with a time of 1:10:05 (0+3+0+4).

Annelies Cook (Saranac Lake, NY) races for Team USA in today's women's relay at World Cup 5 in Ruhpolding, Germany. © US Biathlon/Nordic Focus

The US Biathlon team of Cook, Dunklee, Studebaker, & Barnes finished 13th with a time of 1:12:42.4 (0+3+0+5) at 4:29.2 back from the Norwegians.

“I was really happy with the women’s shooting today,” said US Biathlon Women’s Coach Jonne Kähkönen in a team release. “Annelies on the first leg had a strong performance, staying relaxed even with a broken pole after the first couple of hundred meters.

“Also a positive signal was Susan’s performance coming back from sickness. This was a good confirmation that the women are on track towards the World Championships, and I’m looking forward to a good team performance in the sprint on Friday.”

The Russian team of Olga Vilukhina, Olga Zaitseva, Ekaterina Glazyrina, and Ekaterina Shumilova finished second. © Nordic Focus

The Canadian team of Crawford, Kocher, Vaillancourt, and Heinicke finished just behind the Americans in 14th place, with a time of 1:12:59.4 (0+3 +0+6).  Crawford sees room for improvement for the team as she noted on her Facebook page “…racing at 6:15pm makes for a late bedtime! Rocking fast course today, 14th place, nothing special but we’ll keep working at it!”.

The Czech Republic squad earned bronze in the women's biathlon relay in Ruhpolding (l-r): Venika Vitkova, Gabriela Soukalova, Kristyna Cerna, Veronika Zvaricova. © Nordic Focus

The IBU World Cup continues in Ruhpolding on Thursday with the men’s 4×7.5km relay.

Full results HERE.