The French women’s team won the relay at the Biathlon World Cup in Oberhof (Germany).

The French team covered the distance in 1 hour 18 minutes and 21.9 seconds, spending eight additional rounds of ammunition on the firing lines.

The second place was taken by the Norwegian team (+53.7; 1 penalty loop; 7 additional rounds), the third place was taken by the German team (+1.28.4; 1; 13).

On Sunday, January 11, the men’s relay and women’s pursuit race will take place as part of the World Cup in Oberhof.

The winner of the World Cup stages, international master of sports of the USSR in biathlon, Valery Noskov, died at the age of 59, reports the press service of the Russian Biathlon Union.

The causes of Noskov’s death have not been specified.

In 1988, Noskov became the silver medalist of the USSR Championship in the sprint race. He won the relay at the World Cup. At the 1990 World Championships, Noskov took ninth place in the sprint race in Holmenkollen, and in the relay race held in Kontiolahti, he became fifth as part of the USSR national team. The last time he took part in the World Cup was in the 1991/92 season, at the stage in Hochfilzen he took 13th place in the individual race. After finishing his sports career, Noskov worked as a biathlon coach at CSKA.

The first team of the Sverdlovsk region, consisting of Kirill Bazhin and Natalia Shevchenko, won the single mixed relay at the Alfa-Bank Russian Biathlon Championships in Izhevsk.

Bazhin and Shevchenko used seven additional rounds, avoided penalty loops and achieved a result of 35 minutes 22.1 seconds. Second were Rustam Kayumov and Anastasia Zyryanova from the second team of the Moscow region (lag – 4.9 seconds; 0 penalty loops and 4 additional rounds), third – Mikhail Burundukov and Victoria Slivko (Tyumen region-1; +25.5; 0+8).

The men’s and women’s mass starts will take place on Sunday.

Watch live broadcasts of the Russian Biathlon Championship on TV channels of the Match family, as well as on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.