Biathlon: Elvira Öberg and Sebastian Samuelsson's Race Against the World Championship Clock: 'Stressed'

Elvira Öberg and Sebastian Samuelsson are in a race against time as they prepare for the Biathlon World Championships in Lenzerheide, which start on Wednesday. With a little over two weeks remaining until the championships, both athletes have faced setbacks due to illness.

Elvira Öberg revealed during a press conference that she felt the pressure mounting when her symptoms of a persistent cold and fever set in. Similarly, Sebastian Samuelsson, who missed four days of team training due to his own bout with a cold, described the timing as far from ideal—when athletes aim to fine-tune their performance, unexpected illnesses can derail their plans.

Despite these challenges, both Öberg and Samuelsson express a sense of cautious optimism about their upcoming performance. Öberg mentioned that after a week of recovery and hard training sessions, she feels ready, while Samuelsson emphasized the importance of having reliable benchmarks from his teammates to measure his recovery and readiness for competition.