PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Soon it will be time for the Biathlon World Cup again.
Now Björn Ferry raises a finger of warning for the big star Hanna Öberg.
– Hanna Öbergs is a mystery to me, he says to SVT.
It has been a problematic season for Hanna Öberg. Therefore, concerns are being raised ahead of the upcoming Biathlon World Cup in Nove Mesto, where the Swedish superstar steps in as reigning world champion.
The concern for Öberg
Big sister Öberg was a smash hit in the last WC in Oberhof with double gold medals in distance and mass start, silver in the sprint and bronze medal in the relay. But the expectations to repeat the great success are not at all high after the Swede’s troubled season this winter.
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Now the SVT expert gives Bjorn Ferry his brutal verdict on the Swede’s chances in the WC 2024.
– Hanna Öberg is not where she wants to be. She has been ill during Christmas and the shooting has not been right during the season. Öberg’s form ahead of the WC is worrying. In retrospect, it might have been better to stand over Oberhof completely and stay at home and train to come back to Ruhpolding and run the sprint as the first competition, he tells SVT Sport.
– Now there were a few swaying competitions, then poked in the relay or if you jointly chose to stand over. But I don’t think she could have been better than what Mona Brorsson was, you can probably see Öberg as poked actually.
Ferry admits
When Hanna Öberg was poked in the latest World Cup relay, she stepped instead Mona Brorsson in and really convinced with a huge effort. Which shows that the competition in the Swedish national biathlon team is fierce on the women’s side.
– I still feel a certain concern. If you compare with last year when the WC was a success – then she also got sick over the Christmas break. But then she chose to skip the first World Cup after Christmas and stay at home to regain her motivation. Then she realized how much she missed biathlon, how much she loves the sport and came back with new energy. Now she feels a little pressed down in the shoe shaft, says Ferry to the TV channel.
– She’s not really there. It feels as if she is not really up to it and there is not much time left until the WC. I think she can turn this around. She has shown that she has done that before. But I think it will be tougher than last year.
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Ferry develops his reasoning further about his main concern for Hanna Öberg’s WC chances.
– Hanna Öberg’s swinging shooting is a bit of a mystery to me. We already know during her junior years how she shot four zeros and won JVM gold, she came back and shot four zeros at her first Olympics and won gold and four zeros at the distance in the home WC in Östersund. She was a mental monster, everyone looked up to her and thought how can she be so mentally strong and always deliver when it matters most. But since then it has been more weak and it has relapsed. And sometimes it is not true at all for long periods of time. She has managed to hit the form for championships but now it feels much weaker than it was at the beginning of her career.
How do you think it goes for Hanna Öberg in the Biathlon World Cup? Share the article and have your say!
READ MORE: Wolfgang Pichler’s rock-hard sawing of the Swedish biathlete men – coaching icon: “Unbelievably bad”
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