Russia’s anchor Eduard Latypov missed what appeared to be a clear lead in Tuesday’s final standing stage and eventually had to settle for bronze behind Norway and France. Austria’s quartet with David Komatz, Simon Eder, Felix Leitner and Harald Lemmer was in sixth place before the final round and finished tenth in the final.
The competition was brought forward two and a half hours the day before because of the expected cold, but the skiers from 21 nations still struggled at minus 16 degrees with very dull and slow snow. Austria’s starting runner David Komatz handed over to Simon Eder in 12th place with an immediate lead for the Russian team.
The man from Salzburg made up four places with a strong lap and handed over to Felix Leitner in eighth place, who was only about 40 seconds short of a medal at the time. With a flawless shooting performance, Leitner even brought Austria up to sixth place before final runner Harald Lemmerer fell back.
The big final drama took place at the very front. Because the team of the Russian Olympic Committee seemed to be running towards a clear start-finish victory with a huge lead. But then Latypow shot so massively that he had to do two penalty loops. Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen seized the opportunity for Norway, who had only finished third in the final round, and took the lead with a flawless shot.
Norway with Sturla Holm Laegreid, Tarjei Bö, Johannes Thingnes Bö and Christiansen finally won after one penalty loop and seven penalties 27.4 seconds ahead of France (0/9) with Fabien Claude, Emilien Jacquelin, Simon Desthieux and Quentin Fillon Maillet. The ROC quartet defended at least third place in front of Germany.
For Johannes Thingnes Bö there was already the third gold in Beijing after mixed relay and sprint. Double Olympic champion Fillon Maillet also won a medal in the fifth competition, silver for the third time.
Source: Nachrichten
