December 13, 2014 (Hochfilzen, Austria) – Team Canada matched their best-ever men’s 4×7.5km relay 6th place finish using 10 spare rounds as Russia ran away with the victory with near perfect shooting using only one spare round. France got the upper hand over Norway on the final standing session to take the silver at 20.2s using four spares as the Norwegians settled for third with 10 spare rounds at 27.9s. Austria claimed 4th over Germany in 5th.

Anton Shipulin (RUS) © Nordic Focus

Ideal conditions saw the Canadian squad of Nathan Smith, Brendan Green, Marc-Andre Bedard, and Scott Perras deliver their best race of the season at 2:55.4 behind the winners. The USA’s Lowell Bailey, Tim Burke, Leif Nordgren and Russell Currier ended up being lapped in 14th overall

“I got off to a rocky start in prone on the first leg, but had my best skiing of the year and solid standing to bring us back up into top-six contention when I handed off to Brendan,” said Smith. “ This result especially means a lot because it is really boosted our team’s morale after yesterday’s disappointment in the sprint.”

“It’s been a frustrating start for most of the men. Today we were focused on doing our job during each leg and racing to the best of our abilities,” said Green who skied second. “It was solid racing by all of us, and is a definitely a confidence booster for the team. We’re starting to feel stronger and hopefully will continue to improve, and find our stride as the season progresses.”

Nathan Smith (CAN) © Nordic Focus

The lead changed several times as Norway started strong with the Ukraine taking over as France battled with Austria, Germany and Russia as Canada remained in contention. The deck shuffled again as Russian shooting ruled the day with the Ukraine faltering as Austria and Germany trailed the three leaders.

Anton Shipulin (RUS) cleaned both sessions to clinch the victory as Norway’s Tarjei Boe faltered on the final standing session and was out-dueled by France’s Martin Fourcade. Behind Austria’s Dominik Landertinger got the better of Germany’s Simon Schempp taking 4th to the delight of the partisan local fans.

Full results here.