On the penultimate day of the Winter Games, the 31-year-old veteran knew that the mass start was also her last chance to pick up an individual Olympic medal. The one the entire Swedish biathlon team so dearly wanted for her. Hanna Öberg was quickly there to comfort her childhood friend.
It's impossible to get closer than Anna Magnusson did.
That made it all the worse.
"I'm tired, a little sad but also very happy. It's all the emotions at once," she says as the snow falls over Antholz.
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It all fell apart. Despite hitting 20 out of 20 targets, neither her skiing nor her skis were enough when she left the fourth and final shooting.
“I gave it my all”
Then she clearly saw Czech Tereza Vobornikova, just seconds behind her. But she soon had to give up the hunt for gold.
She also lost silver - and later bronze as well. Magnusson tore through the snowstorm fully aware of where she was. Far too far - 19.2 seconds - from the last medallist and in the role of the first non-medallist.
"A really tough final lap. I think I gave it my all, but it wasn't enough. It's a lot harder than I thought to finish fourth. It was incredibly slow on the track today with more and more snow."
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"It's also a pretty tough mental situation when you come out second. I feel like it's slipping out of my hands a bit. It's hard to describe, but it's a bit of a 'walling off' when I feel like it's not going to work," says Magnusson.
Vobornikova had to settle for bronze when two French women - gold medalist Océane Michelon and silver medalist Julia Simon - also slipped past her.
Öberg's costly mistake
With a little distance, do you think you can find comfort in knowing you did everything you could?
"I think so. I think I will be very happy, but right now it feels bad," says Anna Magnusson.
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Elvira Öberg, who finished sixth, threw away her chance for a medal when she had to ski a penalty loop after the last shot. Without it, she would have been in contention for the medals.
"When you're standing there on lane two in the last position, you want to shoot hard. But at the same time... I shot 19 out of 20 today. I'm doing what I can. I kept going until the end. It's a complex sport we're playing and all the pieces have to fit," says Öberg.
Hanna Öberg finished tenth and Linn Gestblom 25th.
Corrected: A previous version contained incorrect information about the athletes' positions during the final lap.
