Sweden won the WOC Sprint Relay for the second time in a row – after replacing three of the runners from last year’s winning team, with Karolin Ohlsson deciding after a secure run on the last leg. Switzerland finished second after a good last leg by Judith Wyder. The strongest woman of the day was Maja Alm – giving Denmark the bronze medal after closing a gap of a minute on the last leg!
Tove Alexandersson took the lead already to the first control, and even without running a top race she finished first after the first leg. The Swedish men on the second and third leg – Emil Svensk and Jonas Leandersson – decided the race for Sweden by running very strong races – simply running away from the Swiss men. Switzerland did not put there best male sprinters on the Sprint Relay this year – with both Daniel Hubmann and Matthias Kyburz resting for the forest races. That might have cost Switzerland the gold medal?
The Swedish men on the second and third leg – Emil Svensk and Jonas Leandersson – decided the race for Sweden
Exciting battle for bronze!
The most interesting part of the relay was the battle for bronze medal on the last leg. Sweden was in a clear 47 second leg with Norway and Czech Republic in shared second position. Another 3 seconds behind was Great Britain and Switzerland, with Russia another second behind at +51 seconds. Denmark was down at 1:44, and the big question was: How much can Maja Alm catch on the other teams? The answer: A lot! In the end Alm finished at +47 seconds, 30(!) seconds ahead of Norway in 4th place and with Czech Republic another 6 seconds behind in 5th. What a performance by the Danish super-sprinter!
Maps and GPS-tracking
See below for maps/GPS-tracking. The courses were focused on fair forking and different routechoices for different forkings. The technical challenges were not the biggest, but still several athletes made non-optimal routechoices under the high competition pressure.
WOC Sprint Relay, Leg 1
» See map in omaps.worldofo.com
WOC Sprint Relay, Leg 2
» See map in omaps.worldofo.com
WOC Sprint Relay, Leg 3
» See map in omaps.worldofo.com
WOC Sprint Relay, Leg 4
» See map in omaps.worldofo.com
Results
1 | Sweden | 58:27 | |||||||
1. Tove Alexandersson | 14:32 | 1 | 14:32 | 1 | |||||
2. Emil Svensk | 14:58 | 3 | 29:30 | 1 | 0 | ||||
3. Jonas Leandersson | 14:53 | 1 | 44:23 | 1 | 0 | ||||
4. Karolin Ohlsson | 14:04 | 3 | 58:27 | 1 | 0 | ||||
2 | Switzerland | 58:58 | +0:31 | ||||||
1. Elena Roos | 14:36 | 2 | 14:36 | 2 | |||||
2. Florian Howald | 15:12 | 5 | 29:48 | 3 | +1 | ||||
3. Fabian Hertner | 15:25 | 7 | 45:13 | 4 | +1 | ||||
4. Judith Wyder | 13:45 | 2 | 58:58 | 2 | -2 | +0:31 | |||
3 | Denmark | 59:14 | +0:47 | ||||||
1. Amanda Falck Weber | 14:56 | 9 | 14:56 | 9 | |||||
2. Tue Lassen | 15:27 | 9 | 30:23 | 10 | +1 | ||||
3. Jakob Edsen | 15:44 | 10 | 46:07 | 7 | -3 | ||||
4. Maja Alm | 13:07 | 1 | 59:14 | 3 | -4 | +0:47 | |||
4 | Norway | 59:44 | +1:17 | ||||||
1. Silje Ekroll Jahren | 14:37 | 3 | 14:37 | 3 | |||||
2. Oystein Kvaal Osterbo | 15:13 | 6 | 29:50 | 4 | +1 | ||||
3. Hakon Jarvis Westergard | 15:20 | 6 | 45:10 | 2 | -2 | ||||
4. Andrine Benjaminsen | 14:34 | 5 | 59:44 | 4 | +2 | +1:17 | |||
5 | Czech Republic | 59:50 | +1:23 | ||||||
1. Jana Knapova | 14:45 | 7 | 14:45 | 7 | |||||
2. Milos Nykodym | 15:16 | 7 | 30:01 | 5 | -2 | ||||
3. Vojtech Kral | 15:09 | 4 | 45:10 | 2 | -3 | ||||
4. Tereza Janosikova | 14:40 | 7 | 59:50 | 5 | +3 | +1:23 | |||
6 | Russian Federation | 59:51 | +1:24 | ||||||
1. Anastasia Rudnaya | 14:43 | 6 | 14:43 | 6 | |||||
2. Andrey Khramov | 15:27 | 9 | 30:10 | 7 | +1 | ||||
3. Artem Popov | 15:04 | 3 | 45:14 | 6 | -1 | ||||
4. Galina Vinogradova | 14:37 | 6 | 59:51 | 6 | 0 | +1:24 | |||
7 | Great Britain | 1:00:39 | +2:12 | ||||||
1. Charlotte Ward | 15:15 | 12 | 15:15 | 12 | |||||
2. Kristian Jones | 14:19 | 1 | 29:34 | 2 | -10 | ||||
3. Peter Hodkinson | 15:39 | 9 | 45:13 | 4 | +2 | ||||
4. Megan Carter Davies | 15:26 | 10 | 1:00:39 | 7 | +3 | +2:12 | |||
8 | Finland | 1:00:58 | +2:31 | ||||||
1. Kirsi Nurmi | 15:10 | 10 | 15:10 | 10 | |||||
2. Miika Kirmula | 15:41 | 14 | 30:51 | 11 | +1 | ||||
3. Aleksi Niemi | 15:17 | 5 | 46:08 | 8 | -3 | ||||
4. Anna Narhi | 14:50 | 8 | 1:00:58 | 8 | 0 | +2:31 | |||
9 | Poland | 1:01:14 | +2:47 | ||||||
1. Agata Stankiewicz | 15:15 | 12 | 15:15 | 12 | |||||
2. Piotr Parfianowicz | 15:07 | 4 | 30:22 | 8 | -4 | ||||
3. Bartosz Pawlak | 15:49 | 11 | 46:11 | 9 | +1 | ||||
4. Aleksandra Hornik | 15:03 | 9 | 1:01:14 | 9 | 0 | +2:47 | |||
10 | Estonia | 1:02:25 | +3:58 | ||||||
1. Annika Rihma | 14:52 | 8 | 14:52 | 8 | |||||
2. Kenny Kivikas | 15:30 | 11 | 30:22 | 8 | 0 | ||||
3. Kristo Heinmann | 16:16 | 16 | 46:38 | 12 | +4 | ||||
4. Evely Kaasiku | 15:47 | 14 | 1:02:25 | 10 | -2 | +3:58 |