France win women’s relay as Germany take overall honours

Anchored by Anais Bescond, the team of Anais Chevalier, Celia Aymonier and Marie Dorin Habert clinched the win in a time of 1:10:58.3, with six shooting penalties.

Their nearest competitors, Germany's Maren Hammerschmidt, Denise Herrmann, Franziska Preuss and Laura Dahlmeier came in 14.4 seconds later, with six penalties.

But after missing a medal at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, they could celebrate sealing the World Cup title after two wins and two runners up finishes from the four relay races this season. That saw them finish on 228 points to France's 200.

Italy came third, 33.2 seconds behind France. Eight shooting penalties belied a strong race, with Lisa Vittozzi and Dorothea Wierer not losing any time, Wierer shooting zero, but Federica Sanfilippo stretched the margin on the last leg to leave them third.

Norway came fourth on home snow, 1:26.5 behind the leaders while Switzerland were next with a 1:54.2 gap.