It hit like a bomb in the sports world at the end of March: cross-country star Stina Nilsson changes sport to biathlon.
And after training hours have now been put into training hours, the competition debut is only a few days away for the 27-year-old.
On Saturday, the sprint awaits in the Swedish Cup in Idre, and Stina Nilsson is humble before her debut.
- I want to grow into this in peace and quiet, feel safe where I am and know all the routines.
Because at the moment I know nothing about what happens around a biathlon competition.
Where should my weapon be?
Where should I be?
How do I deposit?
I have a lot of time to learn, says Stina Nilsson to SVT Sport.
How do you prepare mentally? Because there are likely to be both good and worse shooters.
- I think it will be a season full of lessons for me.
I will surely make a lot of mistakes.
But I do not hope I will have to shoot on the wrong track, as I have heard that many have done.
It will be challenging for me to pair the good shooter with the bad shooter.
If there are two competitions in a row, to add a possible bad shooting completely to the actions and shift the focus to tomorrow.
World Cup debut is likely to be delayed
The IBU Cup, the level below the World Cup, is canceled until the turn of the year due to the corona pandemic.
A change in the rules has therefore made it possible for Stina Nilsson, for example, to compete in the World Cup, despite the fact that she lacks merit.
It is already clear that Stina Nilsson will not perform in the VC premiere.
And any competition in the World Cup soon is unlikely to be relevant, Nilsson says.
- I absolutely want to compete a lot.
But I do not think it is fair either to me or the sport itself to think that I as a cross-country skier, just because I say I would like to go to the World Cup, go in and dominate.
It's as un anchored in reality as it can get.
- I feel like I have nothing to do there, right now.
I have to do the right things at the right time.
Stina Nilsson believes that a lot has happened since the first staggering steps as a biathlete last winter.
What is a normal time for you on the shooting range?
- If I do everything right, I think that a good lying series for me is maybe 37 seconds, then I do a fast series.
And a really good standing series for me might be around 30, but that varies.
But I can shoot in 20 seconds too, but then there will be five booms haha.
CLIP: Three fast with Stina Nilsson and Hanna Öberg (October 3, 2020)
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Three fast with Stina Nilsson and Hanna Öberg