Norway avenged against Sweden's world champion team: 'Disappointed'

Norway avenged against Sweden's world champion team: 'Disappointed'

In the men's relay of 4x7.5 km held in Kontiolahti, France showed a dominant performance. Norway finished second, managing to avenge their earlier defeat in the World Championship relay, while Sweden placed third, showing a strong competition.

Sebastian Samuelsson expressed his disappointment: "It was a fun fight but unfortunately, I drew the shorter straw today and I'm a bit disappointed about that. I was doing really well until the last two shots standing," he said to SVT Sport.

During last winter, Sweden's male team won their first World Championship gold in the relay after a remarkable collapse from Norway during the last standing shooting.

In the relay, Samuelsson started simultaneously with Johannes Thingnes Bö, marking a repeat of their encounter from the World Championships in Nove Mesto. After two extra shots in the final standing shooting, Bö secured victory in their Scandinavian duel. Although Norway ended their streak of 12 consecutive World Cup relay wins, Samuelsson finished crossing the line in third.

On the first leg, Viktor Brandt had to take three extra shots, passing the baton to Jesper Nelin in eighth place, trailing the leading France by 43.3 seconds.

Brandt described his experience, stating, "It was a war zone on the first lap, and it was crucial to protect the gear and avoid breaking any poles. I’m satisfied even if I would have liked to hit a few more shots."

Nelin also had to take three extra shots but managed to keep up reasonably well with France's Quentin Fillon Maillet, who provided his team with a significant lead. While Nelin produced a good finishing lap, he sent Martin Ponsiluoma out in seventh place, 1:02.5 behind France but just 21 seconds from the podium in this close race.

Ponsiluoma encountered difficulties during the first prone shooting, needing two extra shots and surprising everyone by standing up on the mat. "How odd that he stood up? Maybe it was because he got tangled in his arm strap and had to get up to adjust it," Björn Ferry remarked on the unusual situation.

However, Ponsiluoma missed the shot, saying, "It sounded like a hit, it felt like a hit, but it was a miss after all, and I wasted a couple of seconds; otherwise, it was a really good stretch."

Ponsiluoma then managed to shoot perfectly in the standing shooting, demonstrating incredible speed on his finishing lap, sending Samuelsson out in third place—58.9 seconds behind France and just a second behind Norway wherever finishing two.