# 2008–09 Biathlon World Cup – Relay Women

The 2008-09 Biathlon World Cup/Relay Women started on December 14, 2008 in Hochfilzen and will end on March 14, 2009 in Vancouver. Defending titlist is the German team.

## Competition format

The relay teams consist of four biathletes, who each ski 7.5 kilometres (4.7 mi), each leg skied over three laps, with two shooting rounds; one prone, one standing. For every round of five targets there are eight bullets available, though the last three can only be single-loaded manually one at a time from spare round holders or bullets deposited by the competitor into trays or onto the mat at the firing line. If after eight bullets there are still misses, one 150 m penalty loop must be taken for each missed target remaining. The first-leg participants start all at the same time, and as in cross-country skiing relays, every athlete of a team must touch the team's next-leg participant to perform a valid changeover. On the first shooting stage of the first leg, the participant must shoot in the lane corresponding to their bib number (Bib #10 shoots at lane #10 regardless of position in race.), then for the remainder of the relay, the relay team shoots at the lane in the position they arrived (Arrive at the range in 5th place, you shoot at lane five.).

## 2007-08 Top 3 Standings

| Medal | Country | Points |
| Gold: | Germany | 200 |
| Silver: | Russia | 178 |
| Bronze: | France | 172 |

## Medal winners

| Event: | Gold: | Time | Silver: | Time | Bronze: | Time |
| Hochfilzen (1) details | Norway Solveig Rogstad Julie Bonnevie-Svendsen Ann Kristin Flatland Tora Berger | 1:12:44.3 (0+1) (0+0) (1+6) (0+1) | France Marie-Laure Brunet Sylvie Becaert Julie Carraz-Collin Sandrine Bailly | 1:12:46.4 (0+2) (0+3) (0+1) (0+3) | Germany Andrea Henkel Martina Beck Simone Hauswald Kati Wilhelm | 1:13:28.5 (0+4) (0+2) (0+4) (2+3) |
| Hochfilzen (2) details | Germany Andrea Henkel Simone Hauswald Magdalena Neuner Kathrin Hitzer | 1:15:43.7 (0+0) (1+4) (2+3) (0+1) | France Marie-Laure Brunet Sylvie Becaert Julie Carraz-Collin Sandrine Bailly | 1:16:14.1 (0+1) (0+0) (0+2) (2+4) | Poland Krystyna Pałka Magdalena Gwizdoń Weronika Novakowska Agnieszka Grzybek | 1:16:29.6 (0+0) (0+0) (0+2) (0+3) |
| Oberhof details | Ukraine Olena Pidhrushna Valj Semerenko Vita Semerenko Oksana Khvostenko | 1:17:57.9 (0+0) (0+0) (0+3) (0+1) | Germany Simone Hauswald Kati Wilhelm Sabrina Buchholz Kathrin Hitzer | 1:18:19.1 (1+5) (0+1) (1+3) (0+3) | France Marie-Laure Brunet Sylvie Becaert Pauline Macabies Marie Dorin | 1:19:02.3 (0+3) (0+4) (0+3) (0+0) |
| Ruhpolding details | Germany Andrea Henkel Kati Wilhelm Kathrin Hitzer Magdalena Neuner | 1:16:41.2 (0+0) (0+1) (0+2) (0+3) | Sweden Sofia Domeij Helena Jonsson Anna Carin Olofsson Anna Maria Nilsson | 1:17:37.7 (0+0) (0+1) (0+3) (0+1) | China Wang Chunli Liu Xianying Dong Xue Song Chaoqing | 1:19:02.3 (0+4) (0+3) (0+3) (0+4) |
| World Championships details | Russia Svetlana Sleptsova Anna Boulygina Olga Medvedtseva Olga Zaitseva | 1:13:20.9 (0+2) (0+3) (0+3) (0+1) | Germany Martina Beck Magdalena Neuner Andrea Henkel Kati Wilhelm | 1:14:28.0 (0+2) (2+5) (0+2) (1+5) | France Marie-Laure Brunet Sylvie Becaert Marie Dorin Sandrine Bailly | 1:14:40.4 (0+1) (0+5) (0+3) (1+4) |
| Vancouver details | Germany Kati Wilhelm Magdalena Neuner Martina Beck Andrea Henkel | 1:11:49.8 (0+1) (0+0) (0+5) (0+0) | China Wang Chunli Liu Xianying Dong Xue Liu Yuan-Yuan | 1:13:05.0 (0+2) (0+2) (0+0) (0+1) | Russia Svetlana Sleptsova Anna Boulygina Olga Medvedtseva Olga Zaitseva | 1:13:40.3 (0+5) (1+4) (0+1) (0+2) |

## Final standings

| # | Country | HOC1 | HOC2 | OBE | RUH | WCH | VAN | Total |
| 1 | Germany | 48 | 60 | 54 | 60 | 54 | 60 | 288 |
| 2 | France | 54 | 54 | 48 | 38 | 48 | 36 | 242 |
| 3 | Ukraine | 43 | 43 | 60 | 43 | 0 | 43 | 232 |
| 4 | China | 36 | 31 | 43 | 48 | 36 | 54 | 217 |
| 5 | Sweden | 40 | 36 | 38 | 54 | 40 | 40 | 212 |
| 6 | Norway | 60 | 38 | – | 40 | 30 | 31 | 209 |
| 7 | Poland | 32 | 48 | 40 | 29 | 38 | 38 | 196 |
| 8 | Belarus | 38 | 40 | 36 | 36 | 43 | 34 | 193 |
| 9 | Romania | 27 | 34 | 31 | 32 | 34 | 29 | 160 |
| 10 | Czech Republic | 28 | 29 | 34 | 30 | 29 | – | 150 |
| 11 | Kazakhstan | 29 | 28 | 32 | 27 | 23 | – | 139 |
| 12 | Italy | 34 | 32 | – | 34 | 0 | 30 | 130 |
| 13 | South Korea | 22 | 24 | – | 26 | 24 | 27 | 123 |
| 14 | Finland | 31 | 30 | – | 28 | 26 | – | 115 |
| 15 | Slovakia | 25 | 27 | – | 31 | 28 | – | 111 |
| 16 | United States | 26 | 25 | – | – | 31 | 28 | 110 |
| 17 | Russia | – | – | – | – | 60 | 48 | 108 |
| 18 | Latvia | 23 | 26 | – | 25 | 21 | – | 95 |
| 19 | Canada | 30 | – | – | – | 32 | 32 | 94 |
| 20 | United Kingdom | – | 23 | – | 24 | 20 | – | 67 |
| 21 | Bulgaria | 24 | – | – | – | 22 | – | 46 |
| 22 | Croatia | – | – | – | 23 | 19 | – | 42 |
| 23 | Estonia | – | – | – | – | 27 | – | 27 |
| 24 | Japan | – | – | – | – | 25 | – | 25 |