Olympic biathlon champion Russia wins relay world title

Olympic champion Russia beat France to win the men's 4x7.5kilometer relay at the biathlon world championships yesterday.

In the final leg, Anton Shipulin missed one target but still held off a challenge by five-time overall World Cup champion Martin Fourcade.

The Russian team, consisting of Alexey Volkov, Maxim Tsvetkov, Anton Babikov and Shipulin, finished in 1 hour, 14 minutes, 15.0 seconds to lead France by 5.8 seconds.

In front of 20,000 spectators, home nation Austria finished 20.1 seconds behind after defeating Germany in the fight for the bronze medal.

Defending champion Norway, which had won five of the last six world championship relays, came more than two minutes behind in eighth.