February 10, 2012 (Kontiolahti, FIN) – Despite chilling temperatures – minus 19.5 Celsius – that delayed the start, the US Biathlon team continued to perform claiming 6th today in Finland in the Mixed 2×6+2×7.5km Relay. Sara Studebaker, Annelies Cook, Jay Hakkinen and Tim Burke posted a time of 1:29:51.0 using 12 spare rounds at 3:28 minutes behind the winners, Team France (Boilley, Bescond, Beatrix and Vincent) with a time of 1:26:22 using 5 spare rounds.

“Today was an interesting day,” said US lead off skier, Studebaker, in a team release. “The weather was super cold and there was a while when we were pretty sure we wouldn’t race. Our team handled it well, though, staying in race mode and being ready no matter what. Personally, I struggled a little in the first loop with skiing and getting my head in the race.

“I was happy to be able to push it in the last couple loops though and bring us back into contention. It’s really exciting to have such a good result as a team in the last World Cup before World Championships.  I think it gives us all a lot of confidence for the rest of the weekend and as we look toward Ruhpolding.”

It was a tight race as the Ukraine was only 1 second back, charging hard for the win but came up just short of the victory.  The last spot on the podium went to team Slovakia at 44 seconds behind the winners. France and the Ukraine slugged it our right from the start, as both teams were at the front of the race from the 1st round of shooting.

On the final leg, France had a 16-second lead as the Ukraine attacked in vain. French anchor Jay Vincent was confident telling Biathlonworld.com, “…half way through the last loop, I saw Serguei [from the Ukraine] and was a little concerned. But in the last 50 meters I knew I would win. Today was a French day!”

The USA’s Hakkinen looked at the big picture. “I think our mentality today was, since we had to race at -20 degrees Celsius, it had better be worth it,” said Hakkinen. “Overall though the race showed our level as a team on the men’s and women’s side is raising to the point where we are competitive with the best teams in the world.”

“Today was a great team effort. Everyone had a solid race in really cold and challenging conditions,” said anchor Burke. “I had some big problems with my rifle in prone due to the cold temps, and I was forced to hand load each shot, which cost us a lot of time. Luckily the others gave me a good fusion and I was able to maintain 6th!.”

No Canadians competed. The individual sprint races are on tap next, when the temperatures are expected to be milder than for the Mixed Relay event.

Full results HERE.