Interview with Sven after the second relay of the 2002/2003 season in Østersund on December 12^th 2002 at Eurosport (slightly edited version)

Eurosport: The relay didn’t go well today. Peter Sendel had a bad day. How difficult was it to improve from 17^th to 5^th place in the end?
Sven Fischer: There are always four belonging to a relay team. And it’s always important that everyone gives his best, even if it doesn’t go well for one of us. Unfortunately this was the case with Peter today. He shot misses, but that happened to all of us before. So I started my race from behind as second runner, but you always run your own race, relay or individual. You don’t start resigned or angry, but I started and told myself: “You give your best now and we’ll see what it is in the end”.

 When you are already far behind, do you shoot in a faster rhythm and more risky, because you can’t lose anyway or do you do your race as a sort of training?
I didn’t risk too much, didn’t try to force it or do it as a kind of training, but I regarded it as my own competition and wanted to give a good performance. I think it’s alright to risk a lot, when you are the last runner, but not me as the second one. That would be too early. I wanted to do a good race according to my training condition.

The Norwegians had to reload 16 times, but they took second place anyway. What is it, that makes them so strong?
Firstly they reload very fast and don’t need a long preperation to shoot. I think about Frode Andresen: he doesn’t hesitate too long, he just shoots very fast . He has the advantage that he’s such a fast skater and meanwhile his teammates have followed. It’s not just Ole who runs that fast, but Egil Gjelland aswell and – I was surprised about how strong Halvard Hanevold was on his last loop. If you are that good in skating, you can get way with a less good shooting.

The Swedish team with Björn Ferry was another surprise, they ended up in the Top 10. That’s a very young team.
Yes, we talked about that in our team. When I started in the World Cup in 1992/1993, the Swedish team was very strong, e. g. Mikael Löfgren, who won the overall World Cup. Traditionally there were strong teams coming from Sweden. They had a few years not being so strong, but I’m glad they found their way back to the top teams of the world and that there is another Scandinavian team. As a biathlon fan, I am happy that the Swedes are back and as a competitor I feel respect for this achievement.

The German relay team has been a team for a long time now. You know each other very well. Uwe Müßiggang changed his team twice, besides from one position. Will there be something like that in your team?
As I said, I am in the World Cup since 1992/1993. At that time the IBU allowed second relay team. Not a bad decision in my opinion, because the second line of a top team had the possiblity to present themselves in a relay competition. That’s how I as a newcomer had the possibility to take part in a relay and it’s easier when you are part of the “first relay team” later on. Meanwhile the IBU only allows one team per nation and it’s harder for the new ones. We changed the line-up now and then the last years and it wasn’t always the best of the team to be appointed. I think it will continue to be like that.

Austria’s Daniel Mesotitsch told us, their technicians have some difficulties in finding out the suitable wax. Are there similar problems in the German team or do you get on well with the condititions here?
Every team has these problems. That’s why there are so many technicians. You can’t have a look on a table and say: “That’ll work”, you need a lot of testing and experience to say: “This or that could be working” and that will be the material you try. Your are only sure, when you have finished. That’s when your can tell: “It went well” or “It could have been better”. I think our team works pretty good. For me, it’s important that the technical stuff of biathlon, cross-country skiing and nordic combination cooperate and support each other. This was one of the recipes of the success of Salt Lake City and it should be continued, even now we are at different world cup venues of course.

Your prolongued stay in Östersund reminds me of the long stay in Antholz two years ago.
That’s not disturbing. You have to accept it is this way. I could even be advantageous: We didn’t have to travel from the first to the second venue, that’s an advantage. Apart from that: the weather changed a lot. Once it was very cold, then just around 0°C , which means you always had to test material. In Antholz we had constant conditions and we couldn’t find the suitable material for that, that’s why it was rather negative for us then.