Sweden's Oeberg sisters shine in women’s relay to win gold

Linn Persson (l-r), Elvira Oeberg and Hanna Oeberg from Sweden cheer for the gold medal in the Olympic relay 4 x 6 km

It was a family affair for sisters Hanna and Elvira Oeberg in the women’s 4x6km relay. The Swedes stacked the back half of their team to ensure a commanding lead across the line and won with a 12 second lead over ROC. Elvira Oeberg anchored her team of Linn Persson, Mona Brorsson and Hanna Oeberg to a glorious golden finish with a final time of 1:11:03.9. ROC’s relay team finished second and Germany finished third 37.4 seconds behind.

At 22 years old, Elvira Oeberg is already a double threat on the course and in the range. She shot perfectly in the prone stage and only missed one in the standing. Her blazing fast ski speed allowed her to take more time in the range while still remaining in first. It was uncharacteristic of her to spend more time focusing on the target as a rapid fire shooter. However, it paid off when she exited the range first as the first chase pack entered.

When Oeberg came into the last stretch, she took her first look over her shoulder to see ROC’s Uliana Nigmatullina, who was too far behind to be a real threat. Oeberg competed in the relay with the maturity of someone 10 years older than herself, brimming with confidence. She previously earned third place in the 2021-2022 World Cup rankings and added her relay gold to her two silver medals from the 7.5km sprint and 10km pursuit.

This was the first Olympic gold medal for Sweden at the 2022 Winter Olympics and none of their athletes took any penalty laps. Germany also avoided a penalty loop, but could not recover the time Denise Herrmann lost after she missed two shots on target. ROC clinched their first silver biathlon medal at these Games.

RESULTS

The last biathlon event at the 2022 Winter Olympics is the women’s 12.5km mass start on Feb. 19 at 4:00 a.m. ET.

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