Norway triumphant in Men’s Relay Competition
The Norwegian quartet, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, Henrik L’Abee-Lund, Erlend Bjoentegaard and Lars Helge Birkeland took an unchallenged victory in Hochfilzen’s Men’s Relay Competition. In front of 11.000 spectators, the quartet has been mastering the extremely difficult conditions at the shooting range best and while they had to reload twice they still lead Germany by almost two minutes.
Erik Lesser, Benedikt Doll, Arnd Peiffer and Simon Schempp made it to the second place with 17 reloads. The podium has been completed by the French team (Beatrix/Destieuy, Jaquelin and Fillon-Maillet) who had to do three penalty loops due to choppy wind.
The ÖSV-biathlon-relay (Mesotitsch, Eder, Leitner and Eberhard) had to deal with a bitter disappointment. After four penalty loops and 17 reloads, final leg runner Julian Eberhard has been lapped by leader Lars Helge Birkeland from Norway. He has been withdrawn from the race and Austria was rated on the 19th place.
*** Responses ***
Henrik L’Abee-Lund (NOR): “It has been a good start for Norway and a good start into the season. Things could gladly continue like that.“
Arnd Peiffer (GER): “The conditions have been really difficult today. I wanted to avoid a penalty loop at all cost. We haven’t been successful in Hochfilzen for years. Being on the podium is a big success for our team.“
Jean Guillaume Beatrix (FRA): “It was extraordinarily difficult today which those many penalty loops are proof of. We have occasionally done relays without Fourcade before, however, we gain a lot of confidence from being able to compete successfully without him.“
