Biathlon-Disappointed Nilsson has to wait longer for Olympic debut in new sport

ZHANGJIAKOU, China :Former Olympic cross-country ski champion Stina Nilsson will have to wait a little longer to make her Olympic debut as a biathlete after being overlooked for Sweden's four-woman team for Friday's 7.5 km sprint at the Beijing Games.

The Pyeongchang cross-country sprint gold medallist, who also took silver in the relay and team sprint events in 2018 before announcing her shock switch to biathlon in March 2020, was considered for Friday's race, but team boss Johannes Lukas instead chose to give an Olympic debut to Anna Magnusson.

She will be joined at the start line by Linn Persson and the Oeberg sisters, Hanna and Elvira. Mona Brorsson, whose 12th place in Monday's 15 km individual race made her Sweden's best performer on the day, is another surprising omission, alongside Nilsson.

"Obviously Stina and Mona are disappointed, that's no secret. They had most likely been picked in almost every other women's team (in the race) but we only have four places," Lukas told reporters.

"It's a tough shooting range up here, the wind ensures it's not that easy for her ... you also have to remember that she (Nilsson) has broken into one of the world's absolute best women's teams in just two seasons and as I said, she would have gotten into almost all the other teams," he added.

Currently ranked 36 in the World Cup standings, Nilsson told Reuters https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/swede-stina-nilsson-sets-sights-new-olympic-dream-2022-01-26 in a recent interview about learning to shoot and how her goal is to be competitive at the 2026 Olympics in Milan.

Apart from the sprint, there are three other races for women still to take place at the Beijing Games and the 28-year-old Nilsson could still make her debut in