December 11, 2010 (Hochfilzen, Austria) – Germany’s new women’s relay team powered in for the win at the first women’s 4x6km relay of the season as veteran Magdalena Neuner took over from the Russians on the second leg gaining a 23.1second-lead to shoehorn her squad in for victory as anchor Andrea Henkel came home on her own to the cheers of the 10,700 fans in the Hochfilzen stadium.

The new foursome includes Kathrin Hitzer and Sabrina Buchholz. “Everyone kept asking if our new team would do as well as the “old” team,” said Henkel in an IBU WCup post-race interview. “All of the time we said that we were still a strong team and no one believed us. Today we could finally show how good we are.”

As Russia faded the Ukrainian team held their own to claim the silver using 8 extra rounds almost a minute behind Germany with 9 extra rounds and a winning time of 1:16:22.5. Norway captured the bronze at 1:08.4 behind the winners passing France in the final leg courtesy of Olympic gold medalist, Tora Berger, who shot clean and had an outstanding anchor leg.

The Canadian team of Megan Imrie, Zina Kocher, Rosanna Crawford and Melanie Schultz finished 11th at 6:52.0 behind Germany with 12 extra rounds and one missed target. The US did not enter a team.

The final events of the second round of the IBU World Cup continue on Sunday with the women’s pursuit and the men’s relay events.

Full results HERE.