By Philip O’Connor
ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) – Four years ago, Elvira Oeberg watched at home on TV as big sister Hanna won gold for Sweden in the women’s 15 km biathlon at the Pyeongchang Games, but their dreams of medalling together in Beijing were dashed as they came up short in the shooting.
Debutant Elvira, 22, came 13th out of 86 competitors on Monday, a minute behind new German Olympic champion Denise Herrmann and three spots ahead of Hanna, 26.
The sisters both missed three shots in the shoot-and-ski pursuit race, each of those adding a minute to their time.
However, they were still bubbling at the end.
“It’s really fun to be here and to share this experience with her. I’ve had an Olympics by myself, but to do this together with her feels fantastic,” Hanna told Reuters.
Born in Kiruna in Sweden’s northern Lapland province, the sisters have competed often against each other.
With Hanna off first on Monday, Elvira did not know how her sister was doing. “Obviously when you cross the finish line you want to know how it went for the other Swedes, but it’s not something you think about during the race,” she said.
Hanna rued a late miss that cost her a shot at a third Olympic medal after her individual gold and relay silver in 2018. “I think I shot quite well today, but I let one shot go in the standing (shoot) towards the end, but I’ll work on that for the future.”
Elvira was pleased with her performance, even if it was not enough to start her own Olympic medal collection.
“Three misses is 85 percent hits, it’s not bad, but it’s not enough when the conditions are as good as they were today. Many did well today,” she said.
“I felt that I did my best on the day, and I have to be happy with that.”
The sisters have a chance to add to the family medal haul in Friday’s 7.5 km sprint.
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
