Norway’s Maren Kirkeeide closed on Italy’s Lisa Vittozzi in the last few hundred meters before furiously sprinting past her rival 50 meters before the finish, claiming a 1:07:06.2 victory in this afternoon’s Ruhpolding Women’s 4 X 6 km Relay. The Norwegian team of Kirkeeide, Karoline Offigstad Knotten, Juni Arnekleiv, and Marthe Krakstad Johansen never led at any time until Kirkeeide seized the win at the finish. The quartet used nine spare rounds in their first relay win of the season.

“Afraid I wasn’t going to make the podium”

Kirkeeide explained how she pulled off what at one time looked like an almost impossible feat. “I don’t know. I was afraid I wasn’t going to make it to the podium, so I was just trying to keep up with Hanna. Then I saw we were catching up with Julia. I thought, ‘okay, we can take her and we will be on the podium.’ I had really good skis and suddenly I was close to Lisa and I just tried. It was amazing to win, It’s my first relay win, so that was really fun!”

“Teammates did a really good job”

She called the win, “really special. My teammates did a really good job and gave me a really good start for my leg. Thanks to them, we were able to take a win today.”

Italy, after leading through both shooting stages of the anchor leg finished second, .9 seconds back, with four spare rounds. Sweden, with seven spares finished third, 3 seconds back.

France, with six spares finished fourth, 10.5 seconds back, followed by Czechia, with the best shooting of the day, 3 spares in fifth, 52.8 seconds back. Germany finished sixth, with a penalty and eight spares, 1:01.8 back.

Photos: IBU/Nordic Focus