January 22, 2011 (Antholz, Italy) – Olga Zaitseva shot clean with no spare rounds to bring home the victory for Team Russia in Saturday’s 4X6km Relay at the IBU World Cup in Antholz. The squad, which consisted of Svetlana Sleptsova (0+1, 0+0), Anna Bogaliy-Titovets (0+1, 0+2), Natalia Guseva (0+0, 0+2), and Zaitseva, handily defeated team Sweden to avenge their 5th place finish in the Oberhof Relay.

“As the Belarusians told us after the competition – ‘finally, you are back’ – we are back and doing well now,” Zaitseva told Biathlonworld.com. “We probably were not ready for the previous relays, but we are okay now. All of the girls did very well today and knew that if we did well today, everything would be good in the coming competitions.”

Sweden’s foursome, who sat atop the podium in the same event in Oberhof, were 57.1 seconds behind Russia in second. The team was led by a strong first-leg performance by Jenny Jonsson, who shot clean without using any spare rounds. Anna Carlin Zidek took over for the second lap, missing three shots and using one spare before passing off to Anna Maria Nilsson. Nilsson missed one shot and used one spare round, both in her final lap, before giving the reigns to Helena Ekholm who poured on the heat with a 1-miss, no spare performance that solidified the team’s podium spot.

Germany improved upon their 6th place effort in the last World Cup relay in Oberhof by jumping to 3rd for an overall time of 1:13:34.8. Sabrina Buchholz started things off in the first leg missing two shots and using three spare rounds before tagging Kathrin Hitzer. The 24 year-old exhibited key shooting, hitting every target while only utilizing two spare rounds. Mirriam Gössner raced the third leg for Germany, hitting 8 of 10 shots after using three spare rounds, and powerhouse Andrea Henkel shot clean after four spare rounds to bring Germany into the finish with 3rd place for a time of 1:13:34.8.

The American team consisted of Sara Studebaker (0+1, 0+2), first timer Annalies Cook (0+0, 0+2), Laura Spector (0+0, 0+3), and Haley Johnson (0+0, 0+1). The foursome finished a strong 13th for a time of 1:15:42.5 – matching their previous best result in Vancouver in 2009. The Americans did not field a team in Oberhof – the last time they competed in the relay was at the Vancouver 2010 Games.

“It was really exciting and so much fun to start in the relay. Standing was tough because I was a bit tired but besides that it was awesome to race here,” said Studebaker post race in a US Biathlon report.

Cook, who has spent most of the season on the IBU Cup circuit, said that the elevation change was a tough obstacle to overcome. “I took my time in standing because it was so hard to breath,” Cook explained “I guess I hit the wall because of the altitude on the second loop. But besides that I really enjoyed racing here, it was a great experience.”

Johnson found herself in a showdown in the final stretches of the race, going ski to ski with current World Cup leader Kaisa Mäkäräinen. In the end the Finnish biathlete beat out Johnson by just .5 seconds.

“I really hoped I would still get her but some meters were missing,” said Johnson, “Nevertheless it was a great experience and a great relay”

Full results HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Russia (0+6) 1:11:14.7
2. Sweden (0+7) 1:12:11.8
3. Germany (4+13) 1:13:34.8

13. USA (0+9) 1:15:43.0