March 04, 2016 (Oslo, Norway) – Team USA claimed 10th followed by Canada in 11th in the 2×6+2×7.5-kilometer mixed relay as the IBU World Championships kicked off in Oslo, Norway. France won the gold over Germany only four seconds off the pace while the host Norwegians were 14.4 seconds back in the bronze-medal position.

Susan Dunklee © Dave Allen

An overnight snow dumped about 25 centimeters of snow at the Holmenkollen venue. Once that stopped, the fog rolled in for much of the day. However, by the time the 25 teams lined up for the start, the fog was gone, leaving just cloudy skies and temperatures at right around the freezing mark for the first competition of the World Championships.

The USA’s Susan Dunklee shot clean moving up quickly up and was in the top three through her leg. She turned on the jets in the final kilometer to take over the lead tagging Hannah Dreissigacker up 1.6 seconds on Norway. Julia Ransom, 23, led off for Canada and handed off to Rosanna Crawford in 11th.

“I felt very focused and calm on the shooting range, exactly how I want to be,” said Dunklee of her expert marksmanship.

Dreissigacker dropped to third and then fifth place using three spares and tagged off to Bailey in sixth place. Crawford used five spare rounds as she tagged Nathan Smith in 13th.

“It was such a thrill getting the tag in first place,” said Dreissigacker. “Susan really did us proud. I had a lot of fun, tried my best to ski my own race, and enjoyed having some really stellar skis. It was tough competition out there but I’m fired up for the rest of the World Champs.”

The USA’s Bailey hit all 10 of his targets but struggled to find his rhythm on the skies and fell back to eighth place as he made the final exchange with Doherty. Canada’s Smith had a strong leg moving Canada into 7th as he tagged anchor Brendan Green.

“I was a little lethargic on the course today, but happy that my shooting came together,” Bailey said. “Looking forward to more racing to come.”

Doherty turned in a solid anchor leg, but a miss at both of the shooting stages relegated the team to 10th place at the finish. Green  suffered on the range using five spares as Canada finished 11th.

“It was not our best, but definitely a decent start for our team,” said Eric de Nys, high-performance director, Biathlon Canada. “I think the ski speed was lacking a little and the shooting was okay.”

Results here.