December 18, 2016 (La Clusaz, France) – Team USA battled back to 7th place in the women’s 4 x 5km Relay in La Clusaz as Norway 1 dominated the field with a decisive 50s-lead over Finland in second followed by Sweden in third. Russia finished another 30s back in 4th as Germany outpaced Switzerland for 5th.

Team Canada’s Emily Nishikawa, Cendrine Browne, Dahria Beatty, and Sophie Carrier-Laforte brought home 12th at only their second relay, the other being at the January World Cup in Nova Mesto.

On the first leg Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg established a commanding lead and never looked back. The USA’s Sophie Caldwell was skiing in third but dropped back to 13th at the first exchange with Rosie Brennan. Canada’s Nishikawa tagged Browne in 11th.

Brennan rallied and gained five spots moving into 8th at the tag with Liz Stephen for the first skating leg as Browne fell back into 13th for Canada. Sweden’s Stina Nilsson brought her team back into contention on the second leg as she joined the lead group chasing Norway’s Marit Bjoergen.

The USA’s Stephen was able to advance her team to 7th while Beatty, with superb skiing and the second fastest time on her leg, moved Canada into 10th. As  Ragnhild Haga continued Norway’s domination Sweden and Finland battled for the final two podium spots as Russia, Switzerland and Germany were fighting it out behind for the final spots in the top six.

Heidi Weng drove it home for Norway as Laura Mononen captured second for Finland besting DYVIK Anna Dyvik of Sweden by 18 seconds. A strong final leg by Nicole Fessel brought Germany to 5th behind Russia in 4th with Switzerland 6th. Team USA’s Kikkan Randall crossed the line in 7th as Carrier-Laforte finished in 12th for Canada.

“While we’ve had a few relay podiums in past years the last time we raced in La Clusaz in 2013 was a disaster.  I think we were last.  So even though today we were not at our strongest, it was still a decent team performance.  Sophie skied a brave first leg and attempted to follow Flugstad’s breakaway. Rosie skied really strong despite feeling like her skis were a little slow and Liz had a solid leg.

“My skis were fast and I was really happy with how I skied the downhills today.  The course was in the sun almost all day but barely broke down. I got the tag from Liz a ways back from Germany ahead and a gap to Italy behind. I focused on holding a good rhythm on the first lap but Italy was able to almost close the gap. I was getting ready for a good battle on the last two climbs but I guess the Italian anchor crashed behind me. So I skied the rest of my lap alone.

Now looking forward to a nice holiday break with the family in Davos and continuing to sharpen my race form for the Tour de Ski. Happy Holidays to everyone back in North America,” commented Randall.

Team Canada’s Nishikawa and Beatty were stoked to race the relay again in La Clusaz.

“We were so happy to have a women’s relay team today. I didn’t feel great today, but my teammates all skied really well and I’m very proud of them. It makes having a tough day so much better when you can be pumped to see amazing races from the rest of your team. The atmosphere in La Clusaz is just amazing – so many fans out cheering and the organizers did an incredible job of getting the course ready. It was a lot of fun racing here,” commented Nishikawa.

“We were really happy to be able to have a relay team. We all went out and skied hard and are happy with the result. This being our second relay it was a great opportunity to continue gaining experience. I was really happy with how my leg went. I was able to build off my good feeling from yesterday and ski a really strong race. I love prologue distances so the 4k course was awesome. I had really good skis again today which helped. The organizers did a wonderful job with the snow they had and it was a great atmosphere to race in,” added Beatty.

Results here.