December 09, 2012 (Hochflizen, AUT) – Norway dominated the relay events today at the Hochflizen World Cup claiming the victory in both the men’s and women’s races.  The Norwegian men’s team included Birkeland, Bjoerndalen, Christiansen, and L’Abee-Lund who posted the winning time in the 4×7.5km race of 1:17:55.2. Behind them was team France, which included Vincent, Beatrix, Boeuf,  and Martin Fourcade, finishing with a time of 1:18:29.7. Grabbing the third podium spot was the Russian squad of Sipulin, Makoveev, Ustyugov, and Malysho who finished 12s behind France.

Clear blue skies with little wind created near perfect conditions and Norway’s shooting was stellar as they only used one spare round while France needed six spares and Russia used nine spare rounds. “We practice for relays a lot in our group and today it paid off,” Birkeland told biathlonworld.com.

The Canadian men’s team of Perras, Leguellec, Gow, and Smith finished 13th overall with a time of 1:22:06.6 (2+7+0+5) while the American squad of Nordgren, Burke, Currier, and Hakkinen finished in 17th place with a time of 1:23:18.9 (1+9+0+8).

Norway’s women team made up of Horn, Solemdal, Fenne, and Berger matched their male counterparts by taking the 4x6km relay in 1:11:45.1, using five spare rounds. The Ukraine team of Vita and Valj Semerenko, Dzhyma, and Pidhrushna finished second at 30.4 seconds back, with four spare rounds while the Russian squad of Glazyrina, Zaitseva, Shumilova, and Vilukhina took third at 45.4 seconds back using four spare rounds.

Norway’s Solemdal shot extremely well over the past two days of individual competition but was not as exact in today’s relay as she needed three spare rounds today. “I was really nervous. I skied fast and shot well yesterday so I felt that I had to do it again,” Solemdal told biathlonworld.com. “Luckily, Hilde [Fenne] did well and I knew Tora [Berger] would so that took off the pressure.”

Team USA’s Women, Cook, Dunklee, Studebaker, and Barnes finished in 12th with a time of 1:16.51.3 using eight spares while the Canadian team of Crawford, Kocher, Imrie, and Heinicke were right behind them in 13th with a finishing time of 1:17:14.5.

The E.ON IBU World Cup Biathlon circuit moves to Pokljuka, Slovenia with the next competition, the men’s sprint, scheduled for Thursday, December 13.

Women’s Relay results HERE.
Men’s Relay results HERE.