Norway Wire-to-Wire in Women’s Relay Win

Norway’s Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold using one spare in standing, anchored a wire-to-wire 1:04:15.5 victory in this afternoon’s Soldier Hollow Women’s 4 X 6 km Relay. Tandrevold and teammates, Juni Arnekleiv, Ida Line and Karoline Offigstad Knotten need just five spares, leading at every exchange and only challenged by the German team that finished second. Today’s win was the Norwegian women’s third of the season; a huge comeback from a disappointing five-penalty, sixteen-spare round tenth place at the BMW IBU World Championships.

“We need to win”

Tandrevold pumped up her teammates before the competition, emphasizing the need to win. “It’s an incredible (win). I said to the girls before the start, ‘today we need to win.’ So, I guess I should say it more often, because it really worked!”

“Lot of pressure”

The bubbly Norwegian admitted that 20-year-old German Julia Kink battled hard in the anchor leg, “I was impressed by the young German athlete. It was really tough to have her on the back of my skis. She was always there. When I came into the shooting range (standing) and I missed one, I knew I had to hit the extra shot. I heard Elvira was really strong in the tracks and we had to beat Sweden, so there was a lot of pressure. I was really happy when I saw the white target.”

Norway wins World Cup Relay Score

Today’s victory gave Norway a relay sweep this season after yesterday’s men title and the Women’s World Cup Relay Score Crystal Globe for the first time since the 2019/20 season.

Germany, never far from the front, used seven spare rounds, finishing with a season-best second place, 17.2 seconds back. Sweden, with ten spare rounds finished third, 42 seconds back.

Austria, with five spare rounds finished in a season-best fourth place, 1:36 back. Czechia, with two penalties and six spares finished fifth, 1:40.5 back. France, with two penalties and ten spares finished sixth, 2:01.8 back.

Sunshine; Norway in Front

Soldier Hollow was bathed in bright sunshine again today, the wind flags fluttering lightly and a warm-feeling +3 for the final women’s relay of the season. Arnekleiv opened the day, cleaning prone, and standing with a single spare, tagging Lien a second in front of Austria.

Lien cleaned prone in five shots, staying in front. Everyone used spares in standing, with Selina Grotian getting away briefly in the lead, followed by Lien 5 seconds back. By the tag, Lien tagged Knotten three seconds before Vanessa Voigt. Hanna Oeberg took over third, a distant 28 seconds back.

The German cleaned prone in five shots; her Norwegian rival used a spare. The leaders shot side-by-side in standing, Knotten gained a one-second lead, tagging Tandrevold a half-second before Germany’s Kink.

BMW IBU World Cup 8 Soldier Hollow Women's 4 X 6 km Relay

Tandrevold Pulls Away

Tandrevold cleaned prone easily, leaving Kink 11 seconds behind. The Norwegian secured the victory with a single spare in standing, leaving Kink 17 seconds back. Elvira left third, setting the podium.

Photos: IBU/Christian Manzoni

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