Norway win biathlon relay; Germans stopped by penalty laps Today

Norwegians (L-R) Tarjei Boe, Emil Hegle Svendsen, Johannes Thingnes Boe and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen celebrate their win Norway could afford a late hiccup en route to victory in a biathlon World Cup men's relay on Friday while world champions Germany missed the podium after a mid-race lapse at the shooting range. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, Johannes Thingnes Boe, Tarjei Boe and Emil Hegle Svendsen won the 4x7.5-kilometres relay in 1 hour 17 minutes 5.0 seconds on a snowy afternoon. Tarjei Boe turned a 20-second deficit at the halfway mark into a lead of more than a minute, and Svendsen was untroubled even though he had to reload twice in his final trip to the shooting range. Russia, the Olympic champions and winners of the first season relay, trailed by 14.6 seconds in second place and Austria came third with a deficit of 35.8 seconds. The hosting Germans' dreams of victory ended in the second leg when they faded to 16th after Johannes Kuehn missed three targets and had to ski three penalty laps. They recovered to finish fifth, almost two minutes behind the winners. The Ruhpolding events continue Saturday with mass start races for men and women.