Biathlon: Samuelsson sixth after huge skiing in Annecy sprint

Sebastian Samuelsson led the men’s 10 km sprint in Annecy going into the final shooting stage.

However, two misses in the standing series cost him the victory chance and he finished sixth. Despite the errors, the Swede had the second‑fastest ski time on course and ended 8.8 seconds behind the winner, Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen, who hit all ten targets.

“On a day that feels this good I should win by 20 seconds and cruise it home. It’s frustrating, but I’m also glad it goes this far even with a poor standing stage,” Samuelsson told SVT Sport.

Martin Ponsiluoma also posted one of the best ski times and placed seventh, 12.2 seconds off the win, after two misses (1+1). “I’m not completely satisfied. With nine hits it would have ended very well today,” he said. He added that conditions were tough, with glide getting worse each lap, but looked forward to Saturday’s pursuit where both he and Samuelsson start from strong positions.

Jesper Nelin finished 12th, Henning Sjökvist 29th, Oscar Andersson 32nd and Malte Stefansson 47th. It was Andersson’s first and Sjökvist’s second World Cup race; both earned their first World Cup points. All Swedish athletes qualified for the pursuit.