ANNECY, France (AP) — Germany missed just three targets and avoided penalty loops to win the women’s 4×6-kilometer relay at a biathlon World Cup event Thursday.
The team of Franziska Preuss, Andrea Henkel, Franziska Hildebrand and Laura Dahlmeier completed the race in 1 hour, 6 minutes, 27.8 seconds, beating Ukraine by 23.3 seconds and Norway by 23.8. Canada overtook France in the last leg to finish fourth, 1:35 off the pace.
Selina Gasparin gave Switzerland the lead in the opening leg, but Germany went in front with a perfect second leg from Henkel before Hildebrand extended the 2012 world champions’ lead to 35.8 seconds at the third exchange.
Olena Pidhrushna climbed to second in the last leg, holding off Tora Berger of Norway, whose team struggled with its shooting and missed 10 targets.
