Norway trailed after two legs in this afternoon’s Hochfilzen Women’s 4 X 6 km Relay, but strong legs by Karoline Offigstad Knotten and anchor Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold secured victory and a Norwegian relay sweep after an earlier runaway victory by the Norway’s men. Knotten, Tandrevold, June Arnekleiv and Marit Ishol Skogan in her first-ever World Cup relay used six spare rounds, in their 1:07:39 victory.

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Sweden, with ten spare rounds finished second, 31.6 seconds back. France, eighth after the second exchange fought back with strong legs by Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and anchor Julia Simon to finish third, 1:01.5 back with a penalty and eight spare rounds.

The sun broke through for the sixteen teams in the final Hochfilzen competition. Germany’s leadoff leg Selina Grotian led through the first prone and standing stages but Sweden’s Anna Magnusson took the lead before the first exchange, with Germany second and Norway in third.

Lisa Vittozzi, taking over for Italy moved to the front, cleaned prone quickly, leaving 10 seconds up on the Norwegian rookie Skogan. After a spare in standing, the Italian, tagged Beatrice Trabucchi 29 seconds ahead of the Norwegian and Hanna Oeberg.

Knotten Takes Control

The young Italian was perfect in prone; Knotten and Hanna closed in. Knotten used two spares in standing, roaring past Trabucchi to tag Tandrevold with a 20-second lead over Swedish anchor Elvira Oeberg.

Tandrevold’s five perfect prone shots added thirteen seconds to her lead over Elvira. Simon cleaned in five shots, moving France to third.

The Norwegian's one spare round was enough needed to secure the relay sweep. Elvira’s slow but 5-for-5 kept Sweden second, with Simon sealing the last podium spot for France.

Italy after leading for over half of half of the competition finished fourth, with five spares, 1:14.7 back, followed by Germany with seven spares in fifth, 1:22.9 back and Austria in sixth, with ten spares, 2:20.9 back.

Photos: IBU/Jasmin Walter, Nordic Focus