Failure in the WC premiere, but revenge came in the ladies’ sprint.
Hanna Öberg shot hard and won silver – and Linn Persson came third.
– It could be her best race in her career, says Björn Ferry.
Before this year’s Biathlon World Cup, most of the talk was about Elvira Öberg. The star has had a huge breakthrough in the last year, and made a great championship a year ago, when it was the Olympics. And she has continued on her way this winter.
Success for Hanna
Elvira Öberg has convinced a lot and was ahead of the World Cup in second place in the overall World Cup, only after the French Julia Simon. Elvira Öberg, above all, has been very convincing in sprints, and came to the WC with a bar in her last three sprint starts. It was therefore with high expectations that Elvira set out in the WC’s second competition, namely the sprint, on Friday afternoon – but it was two other Swedes who stole the headlines.
Elvira had a problem in the prone shooting, and it was already clear then that it would be tough for Elvira to reach a top position – and then the Swedish hope was placed on Hanna Öberg instead. Hanna is only the third best Swede in the overall World Cup right now, and has only one individual podium this season.
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Drama about the gold
But she has shown before that she is the best when it comes to it – and she opened with five hits in the first shooting. She was in the lead going into the second, standing shooting and holding the pressure and shooting full. Öberg left the embankment in the lead, almost 10 seconds ahead of Denise Herrmann-Wick. It was a real fight for the gold medal, where Öberg initially lost a lot to Herrmann-Wick, Germany’s great hope for gold.
Denise Herrmann-Wick is the fastest skater in the world, and she showed it. Hanna Öberg had the second fastest ride time of all, but it was still not enough. Herrmann-Wick was sharper, winning gold by a margin of 2.2 seconds, and Öberg was second.
– It may be the best race Hanna Öberg has done, but it’s just that Herrmann is better, says Björn Ferry.
But she was not the only Swede who made a big impression.
Linn Persson has had a successful winter but started late. When most skaters had already crossed the finish line, Linn Persson skated and shot full speed in the competition. Persson was third out of the second shooting, and there was a second drama against Marte Olsbu Röiseland for third place. Persson pulled away from the Norwegian star, and ended up third. It is Linn Persson’s first WC medal.
– Fantastic race, says Björn Ferry.
– Two Swedish medals in the same race… It’s incredibly good. Very good.
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