Samuelsson went out together with France's Eric Perrot and Norway's Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen on the final leg of the men's relay.
It promised a real thrill at the biathlon stadium in Antholz.
"It was a fantastic starting position, a fun fight with Eric and Vetle. But unfortunately I missed the last shot in the prone position. Then they did well in the standing position," Samuelsson tells TV4 Play.
After the first shot, the Swede had already lost contact with his competitors.
Samuelsson missed both the fifth shot and the first extra shot that followed. When he left the mound, he was in third place, 20 seconds behind France.
Second medal
On the course the gap widened, and when Samuelsson came in for the last shot hopes of gold were gone. But he held it together well on the hill, securing the bronze and Sweden's second biathlon medal so far in the Olympics.
"I know that's the medal I'm shooting for. I just tried not to stress, not to take chances and to shoot a good series. I'm very happy with how I'm handling it," the 28-year-old tells TV4Play.
He was part of the blue-and-yellow team that sensationally won Olympic gold in Pyeongchang eight years ago. Now the feeling was that the Swedes were celebrating a bronze rather than mourning a lost gold.
Things swung a lot at the beginning of the relay, as they so often do.
Martin Uldal took the lead for Norway in the first leg. Then he saw Johan-Olav Botn take over and use three extra shots straight away in slow prone shooting. Suddenly Norway was down to ninth place.
France was down to 13th place after the first stage where Fabien Claude incurred a penalty lap, but up in the lead after Emilien Jacquelin's strong second stage.
Strong team effort
Things didn't change nearly as much in Sweden.
Viktor Brandt and Jesper Nelin - on paper the two weakest cards - both impressed. Not least Nelin, who recovered from his fiasco in the sprint and gave it his all before switching to Martin Ponsiluoma in third place, close behind France and Finland.
It feels really good after the very bad sprint that I can turn it around and bounce back, and do a really good leg, says Nelin.
Ponsiluoma continued to ride the wave of gold from Sunday, when he won the pursuit. He had two extra shots in the prone position, but shot clean in the standing position. On the way into the stadium, Ponsiluoma tried to close the gap, but Norway and France kept the lead, setting the stage for a drama in the final stretch.
Eric Perrot was in a class of his own there, securing France's first ever Olympic gold medal in a men's relay, 9.8 seconds ahead of Norway and almost a minute ahead of Sweden.
For Sweden, it was the twelfth medal so far in the Olympics - five gold, five silver and two bronze.
