Nelin was already involved in 2018 when Sweden's relay team won Olympic gold in Pyeongchang and has since been involved in all championship relays that have yielded three medals. On Tuesday, he won another relay medal, Olympic bronze in Antholz.
After the collapse in the Olympic sprint last Friday, when Nelin finished 72nd after five failures and was not allowed to start in the pursuit, it was the relay experience that gave him a place on the relay team.
He had a really good training session yesterday. And we had a good talk about how he really dares to go and that we trust him. We have smart skating out there, says national team coach Johannes Lukas.
“Make it great”
And Nelin didn't let the team down. He was the only one on the Swedish team to shoot cleanly in both the prone and standing positions, and he kept up well on the ski course. He was able to hand over to Martin Ponsiluoma in the third leg.
"That (bronze) means a lot, I was really far down after the sprint and I really managed to turn it around today and feel great. Together with (another) three good stages, that's enough for bronze today," says Nelin.
The days after the sprint accident were tough, he admits.
It's been very up and down. I was extremely disappointed after the sprint and then Martin's gold came and lifted me a little. The same day I found out that I was in the mass start and that lifted me even more.
Got a leg scare - before the start
Nelin says he was more nervous before the start than usual.
It almost felt like a leg injury before the start, maybe I was just overexcited. And I was most nervous about the prone shooting.
Martin Ponsiluoma's gold in the pursuit, Sweden's first in this year's Olympics, didn't just lift Nelin.
It lifted the whole group; it was definitely a boost. It wasn't like we had dug ourselves in, it was just me after the sprint. But we are a good group that can push each other, says Nelin.
Because he was not allowed to run the sprint, Nelin had the chance to meet the family, including his heavily pregnant partner Sandra Abremark.
I have seen them a little, but I have tried to keep some distance because of the risk of illness.
