Sebastian Samuelsson’s decisive anchor leg highlighted by a fast clean prone stage keyed Sweden’s 1:09:07.5 victory in this afternoon’s Pokljuka Mixed Relay. The multi-medaled Swede left the final exchange a second behind France’s Quentin Fillon Maillet, but the French star struggled in prone, falling back to eventually finish second. Samuelsson and teammates Anna-Karin Heijdenberg, Hanna Oeberg and Martin Ponsiluoma used 12 spare rounds securing the win and their first-ever Mixed Relay Crystal Globe with 439 points to France’s 430.

“Had to bring my best game”

Samuelsson called his flag-waving win, “amazing. It was a really good fight with Quentin Fillon Maillet. He is a great athlete and he is in good shape. I knew I had to bring my best game and I did, so I am very happy with that. I knew noting was done until after the standing shooting so I continued to push hard. “

France with a penalty and six spares finished 14.8 seconds back. Norway with ten spares finished third, 22 seconds back. Austria with seven spares finished fourth, 53.6 seconds back. Italy with nine spares finished sixth, 1:01 back while Germany with seven spares finished sixth, 1:03.6 back.

The early afternoon snow continued lightly with some fog rolling in for the deciding Mixed Relay of the season started.

Photos: IBU/Jaroslav Svoboda, Nordic Focus