Russia strike relay gold at biathlon world championships

Anton Shipulin produced a powerful display on the skis to hold off Martin Fourcade and hand Russia gold in the men’s 4×7.5km relay at the biathlon world championships in Hochfilzen, Austria.

Shipulin missed once at the shooting range on the anchor leg while eleven-times world champion Fourcade shot clean to set up a tense finale to the race.

But Shipulin was too strong on the skis and he powered away to beat his French rival by 5.8 seconds.

Alexey Volkov, Maxim Tsvetkov and Anton Babikov completed the winning Russian quartet.

Austria thrilled their home support by claiming third place while defending champions Norway struggled on the day and ended the race down in eighth.

The world championships come to a close on Sunday with the men’s and women’s mass start events.