Bit by bit, Sweden climbed in the men's relay in Antholz, and it all ended with another podium finish for the Swedish men's relay team, the fourth in a row. Sweden finished third on next year's Olympic Games track and has continued not to miss the podium in a men's relay.
But it started with a nightmare start.
"Really tough"
Viktor Brandt got the responsibility to ski the first leg, but didn't get the shooting together. After five extra shots and a penalty round, Sweden changed on 15th place out of 20 starting teams.
It's really tough to stand there. You miss one in the individual series and then your legs shake enough, and you can't get the last one down. It's really tough, of course. And it's really sad that it should turn out like that, says Brandt to SVT.
But after fine legs from both Jesper Nelin and Martin Ponsiluoma, Sebastian Samuelsson, who skied the final leg, could change with a shot lead on a, primarily, third place.
And there, the 27-year-old would show himself from his best side.
"Fighting all the way"
Full shooting at the same time as Norway's Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen was forced to take extra shots made the battle for third place suddenly turn into a battle for second place. But the Norwegian held out on the final stretch, and Sweden finished third.
We fought all the way, and Martin and I talked before the competition that there are many teams that have pretty good skiers on legs one and two and then it looks a bit thinner on some parts. So we believed in it all the way. It's almost like we beat Norway even, says Samuelsson.
In the battle for victory, there was no discussion. France was completely superior from start to finish, and won with a 43.6-second margin down to Norway.
