Sebastian Samuelsson led the sprint cup going into the season's final sprint in Holmenkollen but finished seventh with one miss, losing the title to Norwegian Sturla Holm Lægreid. Both ended on the same points, but Lægreid prevailed with more wins. “It's so damn bitter,” Samuelsson told SVT.
In the biathlon World Cup finale in Norway's Holmenkollen, Sebastian Samuelsson started in the red bib as sprint cup leader. With one miss in the standing stage, he finished seventh. Sturla Holm Lægreid won with the same number of misses but was over half a minute faster on skis, claiming the sprint cup on equal points to Samuelsson, 356, but with more season wins—two against Samuelsson's one, per DN and SVT. Lægreid notched his sixth straight World Cup sprint victory, Sydsvenskan reports. Samuelsson had a chance to become the first Swedish man to win a discipline cup but also missed the 14,000 euro prize. “It's so damn bitter, it sucks,” he told SVT. “I knew it was tight, I went for every position. One miss today is fine. But the skiing wasn't good enough,” he added per DN. Lægreid said: “I didn't think I'd make it,” to SVT. Next best Swede was Martin Ponsiluoma in fourth despite two misses. Émilien Jacquelin took second and Éric Perrot third, securing the overall World Cup for Perrot as the fifth Frenchman ever. Other Swedes qualifying for Saturday's pursuit: Viktor Brandt (36th), Jesper Nelin (51st), and Malte Stefansson (59th). Henning Sjökvist and debutant Philip Lindkvist-Fløtten missed the top-60. The World Cup season ends with mass starts on Sunday.
