February 13, 2008 (Oestersund, Sweden) – The 2008 Biathlon World Championships resumed Tuesday with a familiar scene: Germany top the podium. Following a day off, the schedule called for the mixed relay – i.e., two women skiing a 6km loop and then two men working around a 7.5km loop. As in a traditional relay, each athlete packed three extra rounds of ammunition. This was the fourth time the mixed format has been used at Worlds.

Germany – Sabrina Buchholz, Magdalena Neuner, Andreas Birnbacher and Michael Greis – cruised to the gold by nearly a minute. The winning time, despite six missed shots, was 1:12.20.5. Belarus was silver medalist (1:13.13.1) in the field of 19 nations and Russia completed the podium, even with 10 missed shots (1:13.23.5).

Canada – Megan Imrie, Megan Tandy, Robin Clegg (one miss) and Jean-Philippe Leguellac – was 15th in 1:19.19.1. The USA was 16th in 1:22.25.8; the foursome included: Tracy Barnes (also just one penalty), Laura Spector, Jeremy Teela and Russell Currier.

Racing continues Wednesday with the women’s 15km individual race and the men run a 20km individual Thursday.

Full results here.