The new venture a challenge: "I said no"

Overall, the Swedish biathletes performed worse last season, and among the major nations, Sweden was fifth after Norway, Germany, France, and Italy in shooting percentage.

We thought we had to strengthen the shooting, make it more important without turning the pyramid upside down, says shooting coach Jean-Marc Chabloz.

The solution was more dry training, i.e., shooting training without firing any shots, and also in groups to make it more fun. In the judo hall in Östersund, the athletes stood on balls and balanced, or lay down and aimed for five minutes – all to strengthen the stability of the body and improve focus.

The coaches got the athletes on board – in the end.

When Jean-Marc said we would start with more dry training, I said no, says Hanna Öberg with a laugh.

When he developed it, I felt that I would still give it a chance. Doing it in a group has ensured better quality than if I had done it at home where the lighting is not always good or I didn't know if I had drawn the targets evenly.

Morning Challenge

Sister Elvira Öberg had set a goal to prioritize shooting during the preseason:

We are not cross-country skiers who shoot, we are biathletes and the whole is what's important.

Despite her stated priority, it was a challenge to stand and dry-fire in a gym hall in the morning.

It wasn't always like "oh, this is going to be fun". But I trust Jean-Marc.

Besides dry training, the coaches have also linked skiing training and shooting training more closely.

We see from the shooting statistics that we have become worse, but we shouldn't panic about it. The statistics figure is not the goal, the goal is to get podium places and medals, says Chabloz.

We have also placed extra emphasis on relays and trained more with extra shots this year.

"Several Have Improved

The question is now whether the change in shooting training has yielded results.

It's hard to say since they train so much and are differently tired. A very tired athlete generally shoots worse. But on an individual level, several have improved, says Johan Hagström, also a shooting coach in the national team.

Hanna Öberg says she has had "a notch better motivation" with shooting training, and Elvira Öberg thinks that the shooting in the fall has worked very well on the most competition-like passes, which has strengthened her self-confidence.