Biathlon World Cup 1 (2015-2016) - Doubled Mixed Relay

BMW IBU Biathlon World Cup 1 (2015-2016) - Doubled Mixed Relay
29.11.2015, Ostersund
Norway Double: Wins Mixed Relay
Fast Shooting
Norway, with Fanny Birkeland, Tiril Eckhoff, Johannes Thingnes Boe and Tarjei Boe secured their second victory of the day by winning the mixed relay in 1:11:42.6, with nine spare rounds. Germany finished second, 33.6 seconds back with seven spare rounds while Czech Republic was third, 1:11.5 back with eleven spare rounds.
France finished fourth, 1:48.2 back, just .3 seconds ahead of Sweden, while Russia finished sixth, 2:14.3 back.
Snow Over
By the time the 26 teams started the regular mixed relay, the snow had stopped, but the wind continued to gust across the shooting range at times.
France took the early lead with Anais Bescond using just spare rounds in her leg. She tagged in first, with Fanny Birkeland of Norway 3.1 seconds back with the same shooting results. Germany with Franziska Hildebrand was another second back in third. A crash in the exchange zone put Vanessa Hinz and Ekaterina Yurlova on the ground but both quickly recovered.
Soukalova and Eckhoff
The second leg saw Gabriela Soukalova of Czech Republic battle Norway's Tiril Eckhoff. The two were always within 5-10 seconds of each other. Soukalova left the standing stage with a 5 second lead, but the strong Eckhoff got just a stride ahead of her by the exchange, with Germany 19.9 seconds back and Ukraine a distant fourth over 40 seconds back.
Three Teams
Norway's Johannes Thingnes Boe and Czech Republic's Michal Slesingr skied side-by-side to the prone stage. Boe cleaned while Slesingr used a spare round, falling 13 seconds back. Benedikt Doll kept Germany solidly in third. Boe shot in his usual very-fast style and needed two spare rounds, while Slesingr also needed two. However Doll cleaned and moved his team into second position as they headed for the final exchange, setting up a between of three teams and their anchors Tarjei Boe, Simon Schempp, and Ondrej Moravec.
Norway!
Norway had a 13 second gap on Germany and 26 seconds on the Czech team after the final exchange. Boe cleaned prone rapidly, as did Schempp, but he remained almost 30 seconds back. Moravec used two spare rounds, remaining in third but 1 minute back.
Another blazing fast stage by the Sprint World Champion secured the victory for Norway. Schempp and Moravec each used two spare rounds and that set the podium.
Birkeland said, "I had to rely on my team to help me today...I tried not to stress after I broke a pole in the first 200 meters...I did not want to be worse than my husband did."
Our Turn
Johannes commented, "It was to do my own race and do my best from start to finish...In the standing stage, I was not so close on the shots but was not nervous...all in all it was a good day for me and Norway...today it was our turn."
Tarjei added, "I tried to use my ski speed to my advantage over Schempp today...I am really happy with my shooting today. I have a lot of confidence after today."
The Crash
Hinz said, "I just made my normal race after the fall at the exchange. I was nervous but calmed down."
First 200 Meters
Soukalova was happy with third. "I think it is really nice to get third than a couple of years ago when the people at home did not know much about biathlon, so we won third and that is good...I was feeling good for the first 200 meters but then it got harder...It was very slick and I am happy that I did not fall."