Rain, strong winds, and gates. The sprint became a Swedish nightmare, and of the Swedish skiers, only Elvira Öberg finished among the 40 best.
The pursuit race seemed dull from a Swedish perspective.
No.
Elvira Öberg made an incredible climb in the results list.
The 25-year-old started as 37th – after the tough World Cup sprint – and finished third in the pursuit race.
"Hasn't been super fun"
Biathlon hasn't been super fun the last few days, but what I did today... It's a bit hard to understand myself, but today I reached my capacity, and it's so cool, says Öberg to SVT.
The star started strong with impressive skiing and was ultimately the fastest of all. The shooting was also something else than before. It wasn't until the fourth shooting that the only miss came – despite a tough start to the competition.
I had a lot of problems, says Öberg and explains how her feelings changed when the pieces fell into place during the 10-kilometer race.
I felt on the first lap: "Wonder if I'm going too hard or if I'm having a good day". But it felt controlled. It was nice to shoot zero in prone and then just go.
"Absurd"
However, Frenchwoman Lou Jeanmonnot was too hard to reach and won the race, 26.2 seconds ahead of Öberg, and Norwegian Maren Kirkeeide became second.
But the Swede was satisfied anyway. She clenched her fist when she crossed the finish line and then radiated joy.
I was up and fighting for podium positions on the fourth lap, it shouldn't be possible with my start number, and when I was 2.20 behind, says she.
It felt absurd to be on the final lap and feel: "Oh, I'm fighting for a podium position".
