– It is sour. If I had put the last one, I would have won instead and it was close, but many people can say that. I lost focus for a millisecond and then it went out, says Samuelsson to SVT Sport.
Samuelsson finished sixth, 21.1 seconds behind the lead, roughly what a penalty round takes.
– Now I’m up there and it will be fun to fight about it tomorrow, says Samuelsson before Saturday’s hunting start.
Johannes Thingnes Bö, who skied in a regular white number plate instead of a red or yellow one, has gained momentum in the skiing where he was second best and could win by a barrier.
– It’s very nice. My competitors have become stronger, there are ten, twelve men who can win a sprint. I place great value on this victory, says Thingnes Bö and explains that it was “American selection” for Sunday’s relay, that is, the top four after the sprint.
– We sat and gnashed our teeth at the team meeting, says Thingnes Bö, who took his 86th World Cup victory – as many as Ingemar Stenmark took once upon a time.
Norwegian reserve Martin Uldal finished seventh despite two misses. He had the third fastest ride time.
Ponsiluoma: “It was important”
Martin Ponsiluoma opened with a miss in the first layup, the one that caused him problems, and there was another layup.
After full shooting in the standing position, it was a perfectly okay competition with a total of two booms in the horizontal position – good shooting position for Saturday’s hunting start.
– It was incredibly nice to get the standing series, knew that a zero was required to get it right before the start of the hunt. It was important, says Ponsiluma.
– It’s a clear fall forward for Ponsiluoma, he’s there and cutting, says Björn Ferry.