Biathlon: Sebastian Samuelsson’s shooting collapse in Annecy: “It’s crazy”

Originally published in SVT Sport on December 20, 2025

Sweden’s Sebastian Samuelsson began the pursuit in Annecy, France in sixth place, but his race unraveled in the first prone shooting. He missed three shots and left the range in 18th position.

“It’s crazy; it can’t be explained,” biathlon shooting coach Jean‑Marc Chabloz told SVT Sport, noting that Samuelsson is typically one of the world’s best prone shooters.

Samuelsson then missed one shot in the second shooting but turned his day around by cleaning both his third and fourth shootings. He skied strongly to climb back to a fifth‑place finish.

“I was really surprised too. The shooting was very bad. But I’m happy with how I turned the race around,” Samuelsson said to SVT.

Martin Ponsiluoma was the second‑best Swede in sixth place, and he recorded the second‑fastest ski time on the day—only Samuelsson was faster overall on the skis, by 52 seconds compared with winner Johan‑Olav Botn. The Norwegian’s victory was his third of the season.

Swedish results: - 5) Sebastian Samuelsson - 6) Martin Ponsiluoma - 21) Jesper Nelin - 37) Malte Stefansson - 45) Henning Sjökvist - 48) Oscar Andersson