Norway took the first gold medal at the Junior World Orienteering Championships, which began on Monday afternoon with a sprint relay in the western part of Pilsen city, Czechia.
An impressive 77 teams were ready at the starting line at 16.15, when the championships were kicked off in front of an enthusiastic audience.
Today’s arena was an amphitheater that provided a beautiful backdrop for the race, that went in a mix of residential buildings and a big slope in forest terrain.
And the spectators could see Finland 1 with Elli Punto get off to the best start after a first leg, where the teams were still very close together.
A fast finish gave Finland a gap of 13 seconds to Switzerland 2 and Hungary 1 behind Punto at the first exchange.
On second leg, the Finnish lead was caught up halfway and Philip Lehmann Romøren from Norway 1 went first into the exchange. Switzerland 2 and France 1 was the closest pursuers, 12 seconds behind.
Alfred Bjørnerød, Norway 1 and Guilhem Verove, France 1 seemed to have an extra gear on third leg, where they ran away from the rest of the field and created the basis for an exciting Norwegian-French duel for the gold on the final leg.
Here, Mathea Gløersen (NOR 1) kept cool and never let go of the lead, while a french mistake opened the door for Switzerland 2 to take silver, and Sweden beat the reigning JWOC Sprint relay champions from Hungary in the fight for the bronze.
Norway has had some impressive performances in Sprint relay, that was added to the JWOC program in 2022, taking two golds and one silver.
Find results and GPS-tracking at IOF LIVE
Next race is the individual sprint on Tuesday morning. First start is at 10.00 CEST (UTC+2) and the TV broadcast on IOF TV runs from 10.00 – 13.00.
Photo: Mathea Gløersen (NOR) on her way to the secure the win for Norway. Vratislav Polivka / JWOC 2024