January 10, 2013 (Ruhpolding, GER) – Challenging weather conditions that changed through the race greeted the men’s field for Thursday’s 4×7.5km relay Ruhpolding, Germany. But the rain and wet snow didn’t slow team France – S. Fourcade, Beatrix, Boeuf, and M. Fourcade – as they posted a victory time of 1:13:11.2 (0+3). Team Norway made up of Birkeland, Boe, L’abee-Lund, and Svendsen took second at 1:13:20.6 (0+8), while Austria’s Eder, Pinter, Landertinger, Sumann finished third with a time of 1:13:20.9 (0+9).

With American Tim Burke sidelined due to illness, Team USA’s Lowell Bailey, Leif Nordgren, Russell Currier, and Jay Hakkinen finished 14th with a time of 1:17:06.0 (2+10), 3:54.8 back from the winning Frenchmen.

“Leif Nordgren’s leg time of 18:15 was the 10th best of the day among all legs of all the teams,” said US Biathlon President and CEO Max Cobb in a team release. “Leif was fast both on the range and on the course and moved the team up to second place after his standing. That was a world class performance in some very difficult conditions.”

“I was very happy to race in today’s relay, especially since the level of the team has risen to where we are competing for the podium,” added Hakkinen. “I wanted to put in a good performance, and I was pleased I could shut out any outside distractions and focus on hitting all my targets.”

The Canadian squad of  Scott Gow, Nathan Smith, Jean-Philippe Le Guellec, and Scott Perras finished just behind the Americans in 15th (1:17:37.0). Racing continues Friday in Ruhpolding with the women’s 7.5k sprint.

Full results HERE.