Schempp leads Germany to victory in the relay

Just a few hours after Nadine Horchler's surprise coup, the German relay team has definitely transformed the Antholz Biathlon Center into a black, red and gold party mile. Erik Lesser, Benedikt Doll, Arnd Peiffer and Simon Schempp achieved the first German men's relay victory of this World Cup season.

However, they had to be patient for some time before the German ski hunters were certain of their success. The winning nation was determined in the photo finish after Schempp and Emil Hegle Svendsen crossed the finish line almost at the same time. At the end of the 4 x 7,5 kilometers, the German team was one hundredth of a second faster than the Norwegian team. After the Scandinavians had been in the lead for a long time, Svendsen and Schempp fought a head-to-head duel on the last lap that was hard to beat in terms of excitement. “It was a really tough fight with a fantastic end for our team. This victory is an enormous boost of motivation so directly before the World Cup,” said Lesser after the race.

The fight for third place on the podium, however, was a clear affair. The Russian Anton Babikov didn't let anything go wrong here. He defended his lead over his competitors from Ukraine and Austria.

Italy's relay in 10th place

The host nation, however, missed out on a place at the top of the field. Although Dominik Windisch and Giuseppe Montello kept in touch with the leading group, relay debutant Rudy Zini and final runner Thomas Bormolini had to give up and ultimately settle for tenth place.

On Sunday, the Antholz World Cup stage will conclude with the mass start race for the men and the women's relay.

Results Biathlon World Cup in Antholz (ITA):

4x7,5 km relay, men 1. Germany (Erik Lesser, Benedikt Doll, Arnd Peiffer, Simon Schempp) 1:13.57,2 (0 penalties +7 spares) 2. Norway (Lars Helge Birkeland, Henrik L'abee-Lund, Johannes Thingnes Boe, Emil Hegle Svendsen) +0,1 (0+9) 3. Russia (Maxim Tsvetkov, Evgeniy Garanichev, Dmitry Malyshko, Anton Babikov) +33,6 (0+9) 4. Ukraine (Artem Pryma, Sergey Semenov, Vladimir Semakov, Dmytro Pidruchnyi) +46,7 (0+5) 5. Austria (Daniel Mesotitsch, Sven Grossegger, Lorenz Wäger, Dominik Landertinger) +49,2 (0+8) 6. USA (Lowell Bailey, Leif Nordgren, Tim Burke, Sean Doherty) 1.04,9 (0+10) 7. France (Simon Fourcade, Fabien Claude, Simon Desthieux, Maillet Quentin Fillon) +1.34,7 (1+14) 8. Switzerland (Jeremy Finello, Serain Wiestner, Mario Dolder, Benjamin Weger) +1.48,6 (1+12) 9. Sweden (Torstein Stenersen, Jesper Nelin, Sebastian Samuelsson, Fredrik Lindstroem) +1.50,4 (0+9) 10. Italy (Dominik Windisch, Giuseppe Montello, Rudy Zini, Thomas Bormolini) +2.57,1 (1+10)

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Schempp leads Germany to victory in the relay

What a heart-stopping finale in the Südtirol Arena! Simon Schempp prevailed in the photo finish against the Norwegian Emil Hegle Svendsen and secured Germany the relay victory at the end of the third World Cup day in Antholz.

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