March 16, 2019 (Ostersund, Sweden) – US Biathlon turned in its best-ever performance in the Women’s 4x6km relay event at an IBU World Championships on Saturday finishing 9th as Norway claimed the gold.

The team of Susan Dunklee, Clare Egan, Joanne Reid and Emily Dreissigacker had two penalties and used five spares en route to ninth – their previous best performance was 10th in 2009. Canada’s Sarah Beaudry, Emma Lunder, Megan Bankes and Rosanna Crawford finished 14th with one penalty and nine spares.

“What an awesome day for our team,” said Egan. “We put together a fantastic shooting performance with only five spare rounds for the whole team. To be in podium contention through seven of eight shooting stages shows what we are capable of. Anyone who was surprised to see us skiing in the front hasn’t been paying attention.”

Despite suffering one penalty and using eight spares Norway still triumphed over the Swedish squad who won silver at home using six spares at 24.3 seconds behind, while Ukraine took the bronze with five spares at 35.1 seconds back.

“This is the first time I can remember that I wasn’t nervous for the relay, because I knew even before we started I wasn’t going to be handed a sinking ship,” said Reid. “Instead, I know my team and my staff have my back, and I have theirs. It’s a great note to end on, a great note for the last relay of the season.”

In the men’s 4×7.5km relay held later in the day team Canada’s Scott and Gow, Aidan Millar and Jules Burnotte finished 13th using six spares while the USA’s Jake Brown, Alex Howe, and Max Durtschi teamed with veteran Leif Nordgren to finish 19th with two penalties and 12 spare rounds

On the heels of their women’s team victory earlier in the day, the Norwegian men also claimed gold with six spare rounds and a time of 1:12:03.7. Germany won the silver medal with eight spare rounds, 38.1 seconds back, while Russia claimed the bronze medal, 1:04.1 behind with seven spare rounds.