The missed shot in the first round meant she slipped down one place in the results list. After two flawless rounds, it was time for the last round – and then the thoughts came.
"It's something that has happened in your head when you've been on the podium. In the past, maybe you wanted too much and it got a little stuck. You were almost a little scared in that situation," says Anna Magnusson, who finished second in Friday's sprint.
Now I'm doing it in a cool way. Now I'm there, now I'm taking advantage of it.
“Beyond expectations”
To say the least.
The 30-year-old hit all five shots, maintained her grip on third place and ultimately crossed the finish line 31.8 seconds behind winner Lisa Hauser from Austria.
With the podium finish, Magnusson is second in the overall World Cup standings with 174 points, 17 behind leader Suvi Minkkinen from Finland.
I've done all the races well. It's been above expectations. I'm still not satisfied, I'm looking forward to the rest, I'm looking forward to competing next week.
Another Swede who impressed in Östersund was Hanna Öberg. The star called the sprint “a slap in the stomach” – and got her revenge already in the pursuit start over 10 km.
She worked her way up from 59th to ninth place.
It feels good that I can put the sprint behind me and have a good race, she tells SVT.
It was important for me to feel that all the work I've done this summer and during the fall... It's there, the sprint was just a blip in the protocol.
The mink lost
Suvi Minkkinen, who won the sprint 17 seconds ahead of Magnusson, looked set to take another victory in Östersund.
But a missed shot in the last shooting round was the beginning of the downfall. When the energy was exhausted, the victory disappeared at the end of the race when Lisa Hauser got past and won. Hauser was 2.5 seconds ahead of Minkkinen.
