December 11, 2011 (Hochfilzen, Austria) – Norway ruled on the final day of racing in Hochfilzen a they topped both the men’s and women’s relay podiums on Sunday.  Starting off in the morning Norwegian Tarjei Boe shot clean to anchor his team for the win in 1:14:52.9 in the men’s 4×7.5 km race – despite one penalty and seven missed rounds overall.

Russia was leading coming into the final round but could not hold off Norway and settled for second at 13.9 seconds back with no penalties and five spare rounds. Frenchman Simon Fourcade put them in contention during the second leg with excellent shooting but France ended up third on the podium.

The US team finished a solid 9th with one penalty and ten spare rounds in a close fight with Belarus as anchor Leif Nordgren shot clean while Evgeny Abramenko did as well as Belarus took 8th ahead of the Americans by 4s. Canada’s had as similar score on the shooting range with one penalty and ten spare rounds to finish at 4:24.1 behind in 15th.

In the women’s 4×6 km relay it came down to the final leg as well as Norway’s anchor, Tora Berger, out-paced Marie Dorin Habert of France to win in 1:07:13.3 with no penalties and ten spare rounds. Russia rounded out the women’s podium at 29.4 seconds back with six spare rounds.

France had been leading early on but ceded the lead to the Ukraine in the second round. Norway was able to stay in the mix and on round three took over the lead as Synnøve Solemdal had a strong third leg. Berger needed two spare rounds in the final leg but her strong skiing gave her the win over Habert by just over 13s.

The Canadian team had a great day finishing 9th with no penalties using 10 spare rounds to finish at 3:14.2 behind Norway. Team USA was lapped suffering two penalties and 15 spare rounds.

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