The Russian duo of Kristina Reztsova and Anton Babikov, with a penalty and twelve spare rounds teamed up to win the Oberhof single mixed relay this afternoon in 41:37.1. Reztsova’s strong anchor leg extended their lead from two seconds at the final exchange to 41.5 seconds over second place Austria at the finish. The Austrian team of Lisa Theresa Hauser and Simon Eder also had a penalty while using thirteen spares. Ukraine with Artem Tyshchenko and Darya Blashko, with twelve spare rounds finished third, 1:03.6 back.

Belarus, with one penalty and eleven spares finished fourth, 1:15.2 back. Sweden with two penalties and twelve spares finished fifth, 1:23.6 back. The Belgian duo of Lottie Lie and Florent Claude, with thirteen spares, brought their team to its first-ever flower ceremony in sixth place, 1:24.8 back.

Norway Leads Early

Little changed between the earlier mixed relay and the first single mixed relay of the season that featured 27 teams on the start, with still overcast skies, but a bit more shooting range wind. Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen set the pace right from the start. He went 5-for-5 in his first prone stage as did Jesper Nelin, Erik Lesser and Eder with all four teams withing 8 seconds. With the wind flags whipping in the air, the Norwegian shot slowly and was perfect in standing, but Lesser after a spare round tagged Franziska Hildebrand a second before Lien took off for Norway. Slovenia, Austria and Sweden followed all withing 10 seconds.

Lien went 5-for-5 in prone with Vindisar, Blashko and Hauser all needing spares to clean but still leaving within 10 seconds of the Norwegian. Everyone struggled with the wind in standing, but Hildebrand somehow shot clean to tag Lesser in first position followed by Ukraine, Russia, and Slovenia. Christiansen left in sixth, 15 seconds back.

Germany cedes lead to Russia

The German needed two spares to clean but still retained a nine second lead over Slovenia with Nelin moving Sweden into third position and Eder just behind in fourth. Despite a fall on the last uphill, Lesser came to standing with a solid lead. However, he used a spare while Babikov was perfect to give Reztsova the lead at the final exchange by two seconds while Blashko taking over for Ukraine in third and Hauser going out fourth.

Reztsova’s standing stage seals victory

Hauser moved quickly in front of her Ukrainian rival while the top two remained a few seconds apart. The Russian cleaned with six shots, while Hauser used two spares to move into second 25 seconds back with Blashko in third another tree seconds in arears. Reztsova with a huge lead, needed two spare rounds to clean, sealing the win. Hauser missed three shots but recovered by hitting all three spares and leave safely in second but 42 seconds back. Blashko’s two spares were enough to put Ukraine safely in third place.

“Really hard fight”

Blashko called her road to the podium, “a really hard fight, especially on the shooting range, the last shooting; when I missed it was so windy. I needed to work in these hard conditions in that last shooting. It was also a really hard last lap because I did not know how many seconds (they were) behind me. I am really happy.”

Photos: IBU/Christian Manzoni