Franziska Preuss took control of the Ruhpolding Women’s 4 X 6 km Relay for the first time when she cleaned prone, then calmly closed all five standing targets, sealing a flag-waving home victory in 1:07:47.6. Preuss and teammates Stephanie Scherer, Selina Grotian and Sophia Schneider used four spare rounds winning a competition where they were in contention all afternoon but not the lead until Preuss’ sterling anchor leg.

“Inhale this atmosphere”

Preuss called the home victory, “Amazing! Also to have some seconds before the second place. I tried to push as hard as I could until the last split time. Into the stadium, I just tried to enjoy it; inhale this atmosphere. It was really great!”

“Not so easy in front of the home crowd”

The win came with solid legs by all four women who faced huge pressure from the raucous crowd in the stadium and along the tracks filled with German fans. “I think every one of us did a really, really good race. It is not so easy in front of the home crowd. The pressure is high of course. Everyone wants to see a good race from us. But we handled it in a really good way. I am proud of all of us. Also, the technicians did a really good job; we had amazing skis! It was just fun to race today.”

Norway, with ten spare rounds finished second, 17.4 seconds back. France, led by third and anchor legs Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Julia Simon rebounded from 20th after the first prone stage to third place. 25.8 seconds back, with a penalty and seven spares. Switzerland, with eight spares finished fourth, 35.8 seconds back. Sweden, with a penalty and twelve spares finished fifth, 1:06.8 back. Austria, with five spares finished sixth, 1:41.3 back.

Another beautiful day for biathlon opened with Anna Magnusson cleaning the first prone stage, giving Sweden the lead. Magnusson cleaned standing as well, heading to the first exchange with a small lead over five other teams including Norway and Germany, all within 11 seconds.

Photos: IBU/Svoboda, Nordic Focus