Samuelsson’s Heroics Seal Single Mixed Relay Win
Sweden’s Sebastian Samuelsson cleaned his last five standing sealing a 36:17.6 victory after France led most of the competition in the thrilling Kontiolahti Single Mixed Relay this afternoon. Samuelsson’s perfect shooting keyed the win as rival Quentin Fillon Maillet used three spares falling from lead. Samuelsson and teammate Ella Halvarsson used four spares in their victory. France finished second in a photo-finish over Germany, both finishing 10.2 seconds back, with nine and four spares, respectively.
“Quite Nervous”
Sweden anchored by Samuelsson won this season-opening competition of the BMW IBU World Cup season for the second straight year, but this was Halvarsson’s first SMR at the World Cup level. The 25-year-old who spent most of last season on the IBU Cup circuit admitted, “I was actually less nervous than I thought but still quite nervous.”
“I wanted to push him” Samuelsson after staying on his rival’s heels into the range, fired his last five shots very confidently. “I felt really good. I was imagining this fight with Quentin. He is a great athlete; I just wanted to push him. It was a great fight and result for us.” Regarding the second consecutive season-opening win, he added, “It is always good to have a nice start. If you win, you are happy and can build for the next races.”
24 Teams in Season-Opener
The season opened with 24 teams toeing the starting line under cloudy skies with the temperature at freezing and the wind flags almost flat, very good shooting conditions.
The French Fillon Maillet/Simon duo dominated much of the competition right from the outset, marked by Simon’s extremely fast shooting. Despite a single spare round in the first standing stage, France led by 15 second at the first exchange with Sweden in fifth, 23.8 seconds back.
Samuelsson tightened the screws going 10-for-10 on the range while skiing aggressively, closing the gap to 4.5 seconds at the second exchange.
2024 BMW IBU Cup 1 Kontiolahti Single Mixed Relay
Simon’s Fast Shooting
Simon kept the pressure on Sweden with a fast loop into prone; the young Swede cleaned in five shots, gaining a few seconds after Simon used a spare to clean. Simon rebounded leading into the range, blowing through her standing shots, giving Fillon Maillet a 9-second gap on Samuelsson; with Austria and Germany third and fourth.
Fillon Maillet pushed the pace with Samuelsson on his shoulder with both using spares in prone. The duo lined up for the final standing stage side-by-side. Samuelsson was perfect in standing, taking the lead as his French rival wilted with three spares.
Strelow, “Strength was gone”
Strelow got away second but Fillon Maillet rebounded, setting up a photo-finish, “It was tough, because at the moment, you have to push hard. But at the end, it was more emotion.” Strelow added, “It was a tough race, very fast, but you have to push to the last meters. At the last meters, my strength was gone. He passed me on the last meter. Unfortunate, but that is how it is.”
Photos: IBU/ Romans Koksarova/Nordic Focus/Authamayou
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