Thursday's sprint victory in France was the first win in the World Cup for Hanna Öberg since 2023. A sharp statement of form ahead of the Olympics in Italy in February.
This meant that she went out first in Saturday's pursuit start, but only three seconds ahead of home jumper Lou Jeanmonnot.
“Managed to make it to the podium”
Öberg started with a miss in the first prone shooting and after her penalty round was 14 seconds behind the Frenchwoman, who shot full.
Both were clear in the second prone, but in the standing Öberg lost ground. There were a total of three misses – one of which was in the last shot. Before that series, the Swede was in third place.
"If I had one less hurdle, I probably could have made it to the podium anyway. There will be costly mistakes and the list is so tight, it's clear that it will be tough to stay on the podium," she tells SVT.
Jeanmonnot had a total of ten missed shots in the standings and was ultimately in a class of his own. Öberg had to settle for seventh place.
It was the first time since Kontiolax in December 2020 that Hanna Öberg came out on top in a pursuit start in the World Cup, SVT stated in its broadcast.
“Greater tension”
"I might have felt a little more tension before the day. It's been a long time since I went out in a situation like this in a chase start. I think it's a very good experience to take with me this winter," says Öberg.
Finland's Suvi Minkkinen took second place and Italian veteran Dorothea Wierer finished third.
Elvira Öberg came in tenth (one miss), Anna Magnusson finished in 16th place (two), Ella Halvarsson 23rd (two) and Anna-Karin Heijdenberg 45th (six).
After four podiums this season, Magnusson led the overall World Cup before the start of the pursuit, but now she had to hand over the yellow leader's jersey to Lou Jeanmonnot.
The competitions in Annecy continue on Sunday with a mass start over 12.5 kilometers.
