During Friday's biathlon sprint, Sebastian Samuelsson's chance of winning the standing shooting was dashed when he missed two times. He showed that his form is still there – he was second fastest in the race and finished sixth.
In the pursuit start, he finished 3.2 seconds behind sprint winner Emilien Jacquelin, France.
Then the day was ruined right on the first prone shooting. Samuelsson missed three shots – the first three in the shooting series.
“Shocked”
It's crazy. "Sebbe" who is one of the world's best prone shooters. It's impossible to explain, says shooting coach Jean-Marc Chabloz to SVT and continues:
I'm almost shocked myself.
Sebastian Samuelsson himself was surprised:
When you miss the first three, you have time to think: "What happened now?" I reacted a little late, I should have stopped (in the shooting series) a little earlier. It just went off the rails, I don't really know what I did, he tells SVT.
There was another miss in the second prone shooting, but then the Swede made ten out of ten shots in the standing. With continued good form, Samuelsson was able to secure fifth place.
I'm happy with how I'm turning the race around. I'm not bad, but I need to do a little better throughout.
Ponsiluoma sixa
Martin Ponsiluoma started seventh in the pursuit, but after a miss on the second prone and two missed shots on the first standing, the chance of a podium finish was effectively gone. He finished sixth – just over two seconds behind Samuelsson.
Norwegian World Cup leader Johan-Olav Botn took his third victory of the season in dominant style after a flawless shooting. Home hope Emilien Jacquelin came in second, Norwegian Johannes Dale-Skjevdal finished third and Frenchman Eric Perrot fourth.
The competitions in France continue on Sunday with a mass start over 15 kilometers.
