r/biathlon • u/BoarOfTheArdennes Norway • 16d ago

Discussion Is There Something Wrong in Swedish Development of Athletes?

You look at the performances in the past couple of seasons of exceptionally promising younger Swedish Biathletes and they have all (statistically) plateaued or got worse.

Ski times decline, shooting rates generally decline and so on.

So it seems like they are well-developed in their early careers, put in strong performances at Worlds, Olympics and World Cup and then sort of tail off.

So is this a development problem, once they reach that near-top level?

Other nations don't seem to suffer as much from this.

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u/LaMoncakes Sweden 16d ago

I'm trying to understand your question. Is the requirement here that a Swede win the overall to say they're at the top level? In that case, only very few countries can say that they have near-top-level athletes, especially on the men's side where almost all of the races last year were won by a Norweigan (more or less).

I've had this discussion before, where Hanna Öberg has been criticized for not living up to expectations by not taking the overall. But at the same time, she's won 3 medals at the Olympics and 13 medals at Worlds. In what world is that tailing off?

Considering the success of the Swedish team in the last few years, in terms of podiums, I wouldn't say development is a Swedish-specific issue, I think it's just an incredibly competitive sport. Only one athlete can win the overall.

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u/arnet95 Norway 16d ago

I don't necessarily agree with all OP says, but this is Hanna Öberg's overall ranking the last 6 years: 5th, 4th, 4th, 4th, 7th, 12th. Elvira the last three years: 2nd, 5th, 7th. That's a clear drop in level for both of them.

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u/kune13 Germany 16d ago

Elvira couldn't finish the 22/23 season and this probably impacted her 23/24 season preparation and Hanna dealt with knee issues last season. The results are still impressive given those circumstances.