Photo: Bildbyrån
Martin Ponsiluoma became the best Swedish in goal in the men’s hunting start.
After the race, he criticized the younger Norwegians who refused to help him pull in the track.
– I don’t pull Swedes. It will be a lot to do so, replies Endre Strömsheim.
After Elvira Öbergs25, powerful pick-up in the women’s hunting start, where she was rewarded with a World Cup silver medal for her fine efforts, it was up to the Swedish gentlemen to continue on the beaten path. It turned out to be a little too high demands on Sebastian SamuelssonThe Martin Ponsiluoma And the gang.
Martin Ponsiluoma Less on the Norwegians
Little sister Öberg thus took Sweden’s first and so far only medal in this biathlon World Cup in Swiss Lenzerheide. After Sweden’s fifth place in the mixed relay, and missed medals in the sprint distances, Elvira managed to perform in the hunting start. On the men’s side, things went heavier. Martin Ponsiluoma, 29, was the best Swedish with his ninth place.
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After the finish, Ponsiluoma was quite disappointed, in several ways. Among other things, he directed his dissatisfaction at the younger Norwegians in the starting field. The Swede believes that they are not involved in helping to pull. They just lie in the back and wait for the position on the last lap as they sprint by.
– They just go for fast sprint turns. The other laps they do not try to take in much. They like to lie in their backs. We’ll see how they solve it next year. It gets exciting when they miss the top two, he tells Expressen and refers to Johannes Thingnes Bö and Tarjei Bö both of whom leave after the season.
Norwegian response after Swedish criticism
Ponsiluoma receives support from Sweden’s Confederate Captain Johannes Lukas.
– I don’t know what their tactics are. We want to go because we want to arrive. Sometimes it feels like some want a price for the fastest last lap, but there is no such price. It is top positions that count and that is what we are looking for. I don’t know what they are doing, he says.
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One of the Norwegians intended in the Swedish criticism was Endre Strömsheim. He tells Expressen that he will not change his mind because Ponsiluoma is dissatisfied with his tactics. He wants to lie in his back and have a good position until the situation is given. The fact that Martin Ponsiluoma is one of the field’s fastest skiers also means that the Norwegians cannot be able to pull at his pace.
– I don’t pull Swedes. It should be a lot to do it, he says, admitting that it is to some extent a full fact that he runs:
– Yes, you might think. But this is the first man in goal. He jerked with me for taking some drinks and that I was not there and pulled afterwards. Then I had to work as just the one to get up in his back, he says.
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