After a neck-and-neck race for much of the last leg, Czechia took gold ahead of home nation Lithuania, with Sweden overcoming an early mistake to take bronze.
Krystof Bogar for Czechia and home rider Ignas Ambrazas were together for a large part of the final leg, and at the spectator passage there was no telling who would win. But Ambrazas lost crucial seconds at a control on the final loop, leaving Bogar a clear run for the finish. The final margin was 1.11.
Krystof Bogar secured the European title for Czechia. All photos: Donatas Lazauskas
Rasmus Nordgren for Sweden rode a fine final leg in holding his place to bring the team into bronze medal position, just a few seconds ahead of France.
On a fine day, there was lots of action throughout in the attractive arena, sited on open ground immediately above a short tunnel on a major highway. From the mass start, Martina Tichovska, first-leg rider for Czechia, made mistakes at both her first controls – “as always”, as she put it in the post-race interview – but recovered to race well and come to the finish third, behind the German Per Haehnel and three-times individual gold medalist Nikoline Splittorff, Denmark, who enjoyed another fantastic ride. Vojtech Ludvik rode a solid second leg for Czechia with just small route execution errors.
The Lithuanian team of Algirda Mickūviene (fourth at the end of leg 1), Jonas Maišelis and Ignas Ambrazas rode hard throughout and were always in touch with the leading riders, especially on the last leg providing masses of excitement in the arena.
Ignas Ambrazas crosses the finish line in silver position.
Sweden’s Elvira Larsson on first leg mainly rode well, but was completely lost at one point, losing precious time. She came in eighth at the changeover, but Sverre Rojgård and Rasmus Nordgren put in a great effort after that to bring Sweden up to bronze medal position.
Today’s podium.
France finished with two teams together, but France 2 was disqualified. Finland 2 and Italy 1 were the other two teams in podium placings.
Lithuania has staged a high-standard set of races just outside Vilnius, coupled with superb live TV coverage of the final two days – an excellent start to the 2025 MTBO season.
Relive the live stream at IOF TV
The Junior and Youth relays ended with two wins for Czechia, one for Finland and one for France:
W20: 1. Czechia, 2. Finland, 3. France
M20: 1. France, 2. Finland, 3. Italy
W17: 1. Czechia, 2. Finland, 3. France
M17: 1. Finland, 2. Czechia, 3. Lithuania
Leading results, EMTBOC Mixed Relay
- Czechia (Martina Tichovska, Vojtech Ludvik, Krystof Bogar) 1:55:17
- Lithuania (Algirda Mickūviene, Jonas Maišelis, Ignas Ambrazas) + 1.11
- Sweden (Elvira Larsson, Sverre Rojgård, Rasmus Nordgren) + 3.32
- France + 3.40, 5. Finland + 3.55, 6. Italy + 6.22.