OSTERSUND, Sweden (AP) — Russia won the season-opening event of the biathlon World Cup on Sunday with a dominating performance in a mixed relay.
The biathlon season normally opens with an individual race, but organizers this year decided to kick off with the mixed event, which features two women and two men on each team.
Russia trailed Norway by 10.5 seconds after the first leg, but the team’s second skier, Olga Vlukhina, gave Alexey Volkov a 21-second advantage heading into the third leg.
The team went on to win with a total time of 1 hour, 12 minutes, 41.3 seconds, beating Norway by 21.2 seconds. The Czech Republic took third, 36.4 seconds behind.
