Sebastian Samuelsson is considered one of the biggest challengers to dominator Johannes Thingnes Bø in the upcoming biathlon season. The Swede remembered a strange duel before the start in Östersund.
Samuelsson particularly remembers one competition in Antholz. “It was actually very disturbing,” said the 26-year-old in an interview with the newspaper Expressen.
Samuelsson continued: “I remember that Johannes was a lap ahead of me and that we rode together. We were able to help each other pick up the pace.”
But Bø surprised the Swede with an unexpected move. “Suddenly he started giving me tips. ‘Give it all now’ and things like that,” Samuelsson recalled, adding with a smile: “Then I thought, ‘What an idiot’.”
Samuelsson is one of the biggest stars in biathlon. At the last World Championships in Oberhof, the ski hunter triumphed in the mass start. A bronze medal was added in each of the individual, pursuit and relay events.
Biathlete Samuelsson wants to annoy Bø
However, things didn’t go as hoped in the World Cup. After contracting coronavirus, Samuelsson had to end his season early and settle for 14th place in the overall World Cup.
In the new winter, the Olympic relay winner from Pyeongchang wants to attack at the front again and also annoy Bø in the process. “I hope that we can offer him a little more competition this winter so that he doesn’t feel so confident,” he emphasized.
The new biathlon season begins on Saturday in the winter sports stronghold of Östersund. Samuelsson wants to fight for the podium places again in front of his home crowd.
However, at the biathletes’ unofficial season opener in Sjusjøen, Bø made his first mark and left the competition far behind.