Battle in Final Loop of Decides First Place for Women’s IBU World Cup in Oberhof
Svetlana Sleptsova of Russia barely escaped with a win in the Women’s 4 X 6K Relay competition, as Andrea Henkel of Germany shot clean and closed a big gap over the final 2K loop, but could not catch the Russian woman
Russia had no penalties, but eight spare rounds in their 1:14:23.5 win, with Germany, having no penalties and eleven spare rounds, three-tenths of a second back. France, with a strong final leg by Sandrine Bailly, finished 1:00.9 back. The French team used just eight spare rounds. The Ukraine, after just four spare rounds finished 29 seconds behind France, while Sweden matched them on the shooting range, yet was 1:58.6 behind Russia, and Belarus, with six spare rounds finished sixth, 2:21.7 back.
Only fifteen teams lined up for today’s Women’s 4 X 6K Relay competition, compared to the twenty-four that started just over three weeks ago in Hochfilzen. At the same time, some of the squads did not feature all of their top performers. Missing were Olga Zaitseva of Russia, Tora Berger of Norway and Kati Wilhelm of Germany.
Women’s Results
Full press release from IBU here
Björndalen in Control as Norway Wins Men’s Relay
Ole Einar Björndalen used just one spare round this afternoon as he anchored the Norwegian Men’s Relay to a 27.5 second win over France. The Norwegian who said last month in Hochfilzen that he needed to shoot better, after three penalties in the Hochfilzen Pursuit, responded along with his team which had a zero-penalty, seven spare-round performance.
Norway covered the 30K distance in 1:17:03.3. France in second matched the Norwegians on the shooting range, while third place Germany used nine spare rounds, as they finished 42.2 seconds back. Austria used thirteen spare rounds, yet still took fourth, just 5.5 seconds behind Germany. After these four teams, the field spread out with Russia, with eight spare rounds, a distant 2:02.9 back in fifth and Switzerland slipping in to take sixth, 2:47.5 back.
Men’s Results
full press release from IBU here
![Russian edges out Germany for the win in the women's relay at the Oberhof IBU World Cup (photo IBU/Nordic Focus)](http://images.fasterskier.com/2010/01/IBU-Russian-edges-out-Germany-for-the-win-in-Oberhof-IBU-World-Cup-photo-IBU-Nordic-Focus.jpg")
