It was not a festive start to the World Cup season for the blue-yellow biathlon women.
Least of all for Johanna Skottheim.
With Elvira Öberg down with a cold, Skottheim got a place in the Swedish team, but the 31-year-old would probably like to forget his starting line-up in front of the home crowd in Östersund.
“Can't understand”
Despite the three extra shots the skaters have in the relay, Skottheim incurred two penalty rounds directly in the prone shooting.
"I come in and think it should be good control, but I miss and can't understand where I'm missing. I'm just trying to make the best shot possible, everything is low and I can't explain why," she says.
The series of shots was therefore relatively consistent – but too low.
A great series. Just not on target... says Skottheim, who had a tough stretch after the early misses on the shooting range.
After the first shot, she was one minute and 20 seconds behind the lead.
You get a little pissed off, that's not how you want to start. You see everyone else pulling away and then you end up a little behind and have to chase the whole race.
Skottheim lost another 13 seconds before she was finally able to switch over to Anna Magnusson as the 17th skater, after full shooting in standing.
Swedish climbing
Magnusson brought Sweden up to eleventh place. Ella Halvarsson continued the blue-yellow climb and ensured that Hanna Öberg entered the final stretch in sixth place, more than a minute behind the top trio led by France.
Öberg finished strongly and Sweden finished fourth, but without really being able to seriously threaten the podium.
I think we show that we cannot be counted out as a team even if we have a worse series. Johanna is already turning her leg around, with the standing series, it was a strong start, says Hanna Öberg, who was fastest of all on the final stretch.
The French team, rocked by internal strife and with star Julia Simon suspended, won ahead of Italy and the Czech Republic.
Norway was also responsible for today's spectacular fiasco. Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold seems to have not gotten rid of her shooting problems since last season. She suffered three losses in the second leg – and Norway ended up far, far down the results list.
