It was not the premiere that Stina Nilsson had probably hoped for, when she competed in the IBU Cup yesterday.
She finished in place 99 and had, surprisingly, the worst riding time of all the Swedes.
"Tough situation"
Now her coach Jean-Marc Chabloz says that he thinks that the great attention around the former long-distance star may have hampered Nilsson's start to his biathlon career.
- She really just wanted to start with biathlon and take it easy and get into the sport at a reasonable pace.
She feels that there is a lot of focus on her and has a hard time dealing with it, I think, says Chabloz to Norwegian NRK, and continues:
- It's a tough situation for her.
"Your name is the problem"
Chabloz believes that expectations of Nilsson are unreasonable.
- I told her that "It is your name that is the problem.
Your name is Stina Nilsson and everyone wants to see how it goes for you ”.
So it's clear that it's tough.
It would have been different if it had been an ordinary 27-year-old girl who started biathlon, he says, and explains that the World Cup chance is probably not that great for Nilsson.
- We have never really had any World Cup thoughts about Stina.
Not me, nor John (Luke, the captain).
It is the performance that decides, but personally I think it is too early.