This morning it became clear that Jesper Nelin would miss today's relay due to illness. Instead, the inexperienced Oskar Brandt was thrown into the first round. After the first shooting, he was in a good position, but in the second and standing shooting, he began to tremble.
"During the reserve shots, I started shaking, I had an adrenaline rush. Oh, damn. It was sour, says Oskar Brandt after his penalty round.
For the second stage, Brandt switched over to Malte Stefansson with Sweden in eleventh place. Stefansson, who made his season debut in the World Cup, did not get it right on the mound. Three extra shots in the prone shooting were followed up by a penalty round after the standing shooting.
"It wasn't the start of the season I wanted. I felt that it was stressful from the start, so I simply didn't do my own race, says Malte Stefansson.
Strong pick-up of the stars
When Martin Ponsiluoma took over on the third stage, Sweden was in 18th place, behind countries such as Moldova, Bulgaria and Kazakhstan.
He needed two extra shots in both prone and portrait shooting, but due to his fast shooting and strong skiing, he was able to pick up several positions and switch over to Sebastian Samuelsson from 12th place.
And Samuelsson put in a similar performance to Ponsiluoma and was able to ensure that Sweden finished in sixth place, over two minutes behind winning Norway.
"Sixth is a good position, considering they don't use the best team. But in terms of how the relay developed, it could have gone much better, says SVT's expert Björn Ferry.
The big favourites Norway won in superior style ahead of France and Germany. The Norwegians needed only seven extra shots in total and finished in calm style ahead of France in second place.