Will this duo lead Sweden back to the podium after 13 years? Anna Magnusson and Jesper Nelin will be competing together for Sweden at the bett1.de Biathlon World Team Challenge in the VELTINS Arena in Gelsenkirchen on Saturday, December 28.
Nelin comes from Borås in southern Sweden and started out as a cross-country skier with the Hestra IF club. He switched to biathlon in 2012 and discovered his great passion there: after winning a bronze medal at the Swedish championships in 2015, he was discovered as a talent. He became Swedish summer biathlon champion and achieved his best World Cup result in 2015. In the seasons from 2018 to 2023, Nelin regularly scored points in the Biathlon World Cup and placed between 15th and 54th in the overall standings. Although he was one of the leading biathletes in his country, he did not initially stand on the podium. In 2018, Nelin became Olympic champion with the men's relay team. Jesper Nelin's best result was a sixth place in the pursuit in Kontiolahti in December 2022 - . until February 2024, when Nelin became world relay champion together with Viktor Brandt, Martin Ponsiluoma and Sebastian Samuelsson at the title fights in Nové Město. Nelin had finished second in the relay and kept the team in contention for the medals with a good race. One month later, he finished third in the mass start at Holmenkollen, reaching the podium in an individual World Cup competition for the first time in his career. This underlines the 32-year-old's competitiveness for this year's WTC in Schalke.
Anna Magnusson also started cross-country skiing at the age of six at Hemmingsmarks IF and later switched to biathlon at Piteå SK. In 2016, the Swede won silver in the relay and bronze in the sprint at the World Junior Championships. After an injury break, Anna Magnusson celebrated great success with the Swedish women's relay team, including the 2018 Olympic silver medal. A few years later, she won the sprint at the World Cup in Le Grand-Bornand on 16 December 2022 ahead of her teammate Linn Persson. In the winter of 2023/2024, the 29-year-old placed in the top ten in several individual World Cup races and her best result was fourth place in the sprint in Oberhof, where she hit all ten shots. In 15th place overall in the World Cup, she was the fourth-best Swede. At the 2024 World Championships in Nové Město, Anna Magnusson and her teammates won the silver medal in the women's relay. She and her partner Peppe Femling achieved a special success in March of this year: the championship in the single mixed relay.
Fans and visitors can find all information about the event on the VELTINS-Arena's social media channels: Instagram, Facebook, X and Threads.
Get your tickets now for the biathlon WTC on Saturday, December 28, 2024
