Norway continue winning run at Ruhpolding

BySportsbeat

Updated 11/01/2017 at 17:58 GMT

Norway clinched their third consecutive Ruhpolding men's 4x7.5km relay title with five spare rounds on Wednesday, toppling Russia into second on the podium.

Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway in action during the men's 12,5km pursuit during the Biathlon World Cup in Ostersund, northern Sweden, December 4, 2016.

Image credit: Reuters

The Norwegian quartet - Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, Vetle Sjastad Christiansen, Henrik L'Abee-Lund and Emil Hegle Svendsen - set a time of 1:13.40 having been led out by Bjoerndalen.

The Russians - Alexey Volkov, Anton Shipulin, Matvey Eliseev and Anton Babikov - picked up the silver medal with two spares, 5.1 seconds back.

The third spot on the podium was occupied by Germany, who, despite picking up a penalty, finished with nine spares, 17.9 seconds behind.

Ruhpolding

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They had started the day off well when Erik Lesser shot clean from prone, but a standing penalty saw them drop back into 15th, before Benedikt Doll brought them back into contention.

But they could do little to overcome Norway and Russia at the top of the pile, and Bjoerndalen admitted he was thrilled with the result.

"I was really satisfied with my first leg," he said.

"We always have good results in Ruhpolding, and we hope to continue through the rest of the week."

Svendsen added: "I am very happy to continue the streak of good results.

"This is the third time the Norwegian time has won the men's relay in Ruhpolding."

Ruhpolding