The Biathlon European Championship in Val Martello, Italy, will be decisive for who will get the two last spots in the Swedish team for the World Championship in Lenzerheide, February 12-23.
Two spots have been left open in the team, one on the women's side and one on the men's side.
After the first day of competition, it is clear that Anna-Karin Heijdenberg and Emil Nykvist have an advantage.
The 24-year-old Heijdenberg started by taking bronze in the women's distance race. Heijdenberg did indeed shoot three misses, but had almost 40 seconds better skiing time than the next fastest biathlete of the day. This was enough for a third place, and she was only 18 seconds from the gold.
She will compete for the last World Championship spot with Johanna Skottheim and Sara Andersson. Skottheim also had a decent European Championship premiere, but with two misses, she had to settle for seventh place, almost one and a half minutes from the win.
Sara Andersson finished 55th after missing four shots.
Both gold and silver went to Germany. Johanna Puff won, 9.5 seconds ahead of Marlene Fichtner. Both German women shot perfectly.
Emil Nykvist could also celebrate a bronze medal.
He missed only one shot – the last one – and could take a surprising bronze in the men's distance race, 20 kilometers.
It's completely crazy. I didn't believe it when I woke up this morning, and I don't think anyone else did, says Emil Nykvist to SVT.
Nykvist, who has been 22nd best in the World Cup, was 47 seconds behind the winner Isak Frey, Norway.
Austrian Fredrik Mülbacher took silver.
