In the shadow of her sister Elvira, Hanna Öberg has shown promising form lately.
But during the pursuit in Italian Antholz, it was a major setback. The Swede missed all five shots and fell from her 11th starting position to a final 19th place, a full three minutes behind the leader.
Afterwards, Öberg had a hard time understanding why the shooting went as it did.
I haven't had a chance to talk to Jean-Marc (Chabloz, shooting coach) yet. I've seen the hit images, but I have no explanation at the moment, says Öberg to SVT and continues:
With that start, it becomes damn tough. I know I can, so it's just frustrating when you have a good starting position and can't take advantage of it.
Magnusson climbed
Instead, Anna Magnusson became the best Swedish performer, climbing from her 32nd place to a 12th place. Ella Halvarsson finished just behind as the 15th skier.
In the battle for victory, it was relatively undramatic. French Lou Jeanmonnot went out as the leader and never looked back. Rather the opposite. After half the competition, the second-place finisher in the overall World Cup had increased her seven-second lead at the start to a full 40 seconds.
Jeanmonnot won, despite missing a shot in the final shooting, easily ahead of her compatriot Julia Simon. Franziska Preuss, Germany, finished third.
Elvira Öberg falls behind
Thus, Elvira Öberg, who withdrew from the weekend's competitions due to illness, falls further behind in the World Cup. Before the weekend, the Swede was close to the leading Preuss and Jeanmonnot in second place, but after the weekend's missed competitions, the gap has grown significantly.
Corrected: In an earlier version, Antholz was placed in the wrong country.
