Photo: Bildbyrån
Nine straight shots sat where they were supposed to. Not the tenth.
Sebastian Samuelsson had to settle for a sixth place in the sprint in Hochfilzen.
– It is clear that it is sour, he says in SVT after the race.
The Swedish biathlon star Sebastian Samuelsson27, was heading for a cannon race when the World Cup circus had left the Finnish darkness for the sun of the Austrian Alps.
Sebastian Samuelsson was close to victory
Everything went completely according to plan – right up to the last shot in portrait. Then Samuelsson missed, a precious miss that cost him a podium place and maybe even the victory.
– It’s the last bit there. If I had placed it, I would have won instead. But it’s a very good race. I can be satisfied with that. It’s clear that… it feels like it’s close, but there are probably many who can say that. I have to be satisfied with what was, he says in SVT after the race.
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Samuelsson finished sixth, beaten by 21.1 seconds from the winner Johannes Thingnes Bø. The Norwegian won closely ahead of his teammate Sturla Holm Lægreidwhile France’s Fabian Claude finished third.
– I thought I had very good flow. It felt good. I think that the shooting now feels much better than last week and I felt that I was going strong in the groove and felt energetic as well. But it’s clear, I probably lost focus for a millisecond and then it slips out, he says.
Samuelsson satisfied with his race
After the finish, Samuelsson was still relatively satisfied. He doesn’t think he could have done much differently.
– I checked the analysis a bit. I did a very good first lap. I still think I opened quite controlled, so I’m a bit surprised that I lost a bit on the second lap. There are many who went fast on the last bit from the top in, so it upsets me a little if I lost a simple second there. All in all, a very good biathlon race, he says.
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Martin Ponsiluoma took a step in the right direction. The setbacks on the shooting range continued with two misses in the prone shooting, but then Ponsiluoma recovered and shot full standing. Ponsiluoma finished twelfth and has 43 seconds to try to catch up when the chase starts on Saturday.
Unfortunate for Sebastian Samuelsson, who looked like he would do a great job. It was close! But due to a miss it was sixth place instead.
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