January 09, 2014 (Ruhpolding, Germany) – The Russian women’s squad nabbed the victory in the 4x6km relay at the IBU Cup in Ruhpolding yesterday, while the Austrian men’s team took the top spot in today’s 4×7.5km event. The Canadian squad of Jean-Phillip Le Guellec, Scott Perras, Brendan Green, and Nathan Smith finished a strong eighth while the women’s team was 12th – no American teams competed.

Women
In the women’s race, the Russians finished 6.2s ahead of second place, Germany, while Norway finished third, 16.7s back after making an impressive comeback. After the first exchange, Ukraine, Italy, and France were top three, but the second leg saw Germany and Belarus kick into high gear and come through in the top two on the second exchange. Norway had been behind by over a minute, but made up ground and was now 42s back.

The Russians were also moving up with good shooting. Things got exciting on the final exchange, with Germany and Russia neck-and-neck and Norway now only 30s back. It was Russian anchor Olga Vilukhina’s quick shooting that saw her finally gain a precious gap over Germany’s Franziska Hildebrand, which she held to the finish. Norway’s Tora Berger made a gutsy move that saw her regain the bronze medal for her squad.

The Canadian squad of Rosanna Crawford, Megan Imrie, Audrey Vaillancourt, and Meghan Heinicke finished 12th, trailing by 3:20.1.

Men
The men’s race saw a tight battle that was waged between Latvia, Italy and Germany, respectively through the first exchange, while the second leg was even more action-packed with Germany’s Andreas Birnbacher’s good shooting putting his team into the lead by the second exchange. Russia trailed in second place by 12s, with Sweden in third at 16s. It was on the standing stage of the third leg where Austria broke through, courtesy of Simon Eder’s (AUT) quick, clean shooting. Eder overtook Germany’s Erik Lesser for the lead.

On the final leg, it was once again Austria’s fast shooting that gave the squad the advantage, and he had a small lead going into the final shooting stage in what had become a tight three-team battle for the win with Germany and Russia. Austrian Dominick Landertinger shot clean and quick again, along with the Russian, Anton Shipulin, and they escaped with a 5s lead on Germany’s Simon Schempp. Schempp recovered, however, and battled with Landertinger to the end, with the Austrian vanquishing the German in an exciting sprint.

The Canadian squad of Jean-Phillip Le Guellec, Scott Perras, Brendan Green, and Nathan Smith finished a strong eighth, trailing by 1:39.8.