Before the start of the opening race of the World Cup, the Swedish Olympic champion was surprised in an interview with the newspaper Aftonbladet that the favored Norwegians would use Johannes Thingnes Bö against him on the last leg.
“I was a bit surprised that they used Johannes as a finisher. I would be much more worried about Vetle Sjastad Christiansen. But I’m not afraid of Johannes or Sturla (Holm Laegreid),” said Samuelsson, saying that the last two named no longer have the necessary explosiveness for the final meters of races.
Sebastian Samuelsson was inconsolable after throwing away Sweden’s medal chances in the first WC race by incurring three penalty rounds in the mixed relay. Afterwards it was found that the parts of the rifle were not properly attached. It is the riders’ responsibility, sayshttps://t.co/0L53Q6kgfJ
— MSN Sweden (@msnsverige) February 8, 2023
Understandably, his words did not escape the sovereign of this season, Johannes Thingnes Bö, and so he had no mercy for his collapsed competitor, who paid the price when shooting loose bolts in his small-caliber rifle.
“It tastes pretty sweet when he wrote me off so hard up front here. I would say he got what he deserved,” said Bö with a sense of satisfaction to the cameras of TV2.
When asked if he sympathizes with his competitor, who has been through hell on the track, he replied: “No. Or maybe just a little. But when you go out with something loud like that, you have to be able to eat what you made. That’s how it turned out for Sebbe today and it’s obviously sad for the Swedes.”
The younger of the famous Norwegian brother pair, however, admitted that there was something to Samuelsson’s words.
“He was right when he said that it is better to fight me in the last stretch than Vettel, who is the best sprinter of all of us. If I had fought Sebb at the finish line, I would have had big problems,” admitted the 29-year-old competitor, who led the Norwegian relay team to the finish line in the expected first place, almost twelve seconds ahead of second-placed Italy.
Samuelsson, who had to do three penalty rounds right away, believes that he will quickly recover from the opening fiasco. “I think that will be easy. I used to always shoot well here at Oberhof. I have experienced good feelings here. I now have two days to adjust my rifle and shooting and I think everything will be good again,” he said.
