Russia overcame eight missed targets and the absence of Yevgeny Garanichev to win the men's 4x7.5-kilometer relay at the Sochi Games on Saturday, sending the home nation top of the Olympic medals table with 11 golds.Alexey Volkov, Yevgeny Ustyugov and Dmitry Malyshko kept Russia in third position for most of the race before anchor Anton Shipulin beat Germany's Simon Schempp on the final lap.Russia, now a record seven-time Olympic relay champion, was 3.5 seconds in front of Germany and 29.8 ahead of bronze medal winner Austria.The Russians surprisingly left Garanichev out of the team even though he was Russia's only biathlon medalist at the games before the relay. Garanichev won bronze in the individual race.Russia missed eight targets before finishing in 1 hour, 12 minutes and 15.9 seconds. Shipulin was 3.5 seconds in front of Germany and 29.8 ahead of third place Austria.Defending champion Norway led for most of the competition but dropped to fourth after anchor Emil Hegle Svendsen missed three targets in his final shooting, denying teammate Ole Einar Bjoerndalen the chance of winning a record ninth career Olympic gold medal.
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