The international Ski Orienteering season will reach its peak this week when the European Ski Orienteering Championships and Ski Orienteering World Cup finals are held in Posio, Finland.
The four races from Thursday to Sunday also host the Junior World SkiO Championships and the European Youth SkiO Championships.
For the seniors, a mixed sprint relay, sprint, middle and long in that order await, while JWSOC and EYSOC race relays on Thursday and otherwise follow the same order.
Across the three championships, 229 athletes from 16 different nations are registered for the competitions in northern Finland, which offers Nordic terrain with increasing height differences as the competitions are raced.
Injury keeps Baklid at home
Several of the defending champions from the last ESOC, which was held in Latvia two years ago, are ready to defend their gold medals.
Estonia’s Daisy Kudre-Schnyder (photo) won all three individual gold medals in Madona, while Jonatan Ståhl (SWE) grabbed gold in the sprint. Both are in Posio.
On the other hand, neither the middle-distance nor long-distance winners in the men’s race are back.
Jørgen Baklid (NOR), who won the long-distance race and is leading this year’s World Cup by a wide margin, was unlucky enough to break his collarbone on skis a week before the championships.
Linus Rapp (SWE) won the middle-distance gold in Madona two years ago, but has since retired.
At that time, Norway’s team with Anna Ulvensøen and Jørgen Baklid won the sprint relay ESOC-gold.
Battle for the World Cup titles
With Jørgen Baklid’s injury, there is suddenly excitement about the men’s World Cup title again. Baklid has otherwise won five of the first six World Cup races of the season and the defending champion has thus scored 535 points. In second place we find Jonatan Ståhl (photo), who shared the victory with Baklid in the first race of the year – he has 377 points. Behind Ståhl is Pyry Riissanen (FIN), who surprisingly won the Mass Start race in Ruhpolding, and has 91 point to catch up on the Swede.
In this year’s World Cup, the best 7 out of 9 results count, and the final long distance in Posio gives double points. It is therefore likely that Baklid will be overtaken despite his superb start to the season.
In the women’s standings, Magdelena Olsson (SWE) has taken the lead with almost 100 points. Olsson has 460 points, while there is a close battle for second place between Daisy Kudre-Schnyder and Anna Ulvensøen (366 and 364 points respectively). Frida Sandberg (SWE), who took home two second places in Ruhpolding, is fourth with 323 points.
See the full World Cup standings
The U23 SkiO World Cup is also decided this weekend and here a gripping finish looks to be on its way. Pyry Riissanen has 440 points, Isak Lundholm (SWE) 435 points, while Teodor Mo Hjelseth (NOR) has collected 415 points so far.
The defending U23 SkiO World Cup champion Niklas Ekström (FIN) has only 316 points in fourth place, but was also listed for 0 points after a mispunch in Sjusjøen and therefore has the opportunity to catch up with the leaders.
Amanda Yli Futka (FIN) has a stronger starting point among the U23 women, where she has scored 489 points after taking home a full 300 points from Round 1 in January. Ella Turesson (SWE) has collected 380 points so far and defending champion Maria Hoskari (FIN) is in third place with 328 points.
Full U23 SkiO World Cup standings
The competitions from Posio can be followed with live results and GPS tracking on IOF Live.
Programme:
European Ski Orienteering Championships 2025 and SkiO World Cup Round 3, Junior World SkiO Championships and European Youth SkiO Championships
All times: EET (UTC +2)
Thursday, March 20
Sprint Relay / Relay
11:00 W/M21 Start
12:30 M20 Start
12:35 M17 Start
12:40 W20 Start
12:45 W17 Start
Friday, March 21
Sprint distance
10:00 W/M 17 First start
10:45 W/M20 First start
11:30 W21 First start
12:15 M21 First start
Saturday, March 22
Middle distance
10:00 W/M 17 First start
10:30 W/M 20 First start
11:00 W/M 21 First start
Sunday, March 23
Long distance
9:00 W/M 20 First start
9:30 W/M 17 First start
10:20 W/M 21 First start
Photos: Terje W. Pettersen, Erling Thisted