Italy edges Germany for 1st biathlon WCup relay victory
HOCHFILZEN, Austria (AP) Italian biathlete Dorothea Wierer beat Germany's Franziska Preuss at the finish of a women's World Cup relay on Sunday, giving Italy its maiden win in the discipline.
The pair left the final shooting range simultaneously. Preuss went ahead but was overtaken in the closing meters by Wierer, who edged the German by 0.2 seconds.
Italy, which also included Lisa Vittozzi, Karin Oberhofer and Federica Sanfilippo, missed eight targets in total and finished the 4x6-kilometer competition in 1 hour, 5 minutes, 32.6 seconds.
The German team of Franziska Hildebrand, Maren Hammerschmidt, Vanessa Hinz and Preuss, had seven shooting mistakes.
Olympic relay champion Ukraine missed 10 times and came 13.1 seconds back in third.
A men's 4x7.5K relay is scheduled later Sunday.
