JWOC Relay titles to Norway’s men and Great Britain’s women

Norway’s Kasper Fosser won his third gold medal of the championships, bringing the Norwegian team in to the finish with a 2.09 lead over Sweden 2. The women’s race was a close fight between Great Britain and Russia, with Grace Molloy holding her nerve to take the win by 18 seconds.

At the end of the first leg in the men’s Relay, which started first, five nations – Switzerland, Sweden, France, Czech Republic and Norway – established a 1-minute lead over all others. France came into the second changeover ahead by 8 seconds over Norway 1 and Sweden 2, but Fosser quickly caught up the Frenchman and began to pull away half-way though his race. He navigated the tricky final loop after the spectator passage without any loss of time and took a clean victory to retain the Relay men’s title for Norway.

Victorious men’s team     Photos: JWOC

Russia showed their strength from the start in the women’s race, with both Russian teams with Sweden at the front after the first leg, followed closely by Great Britain. A 30-second error by Fiona Bunn for Great Britain on the last loop gave Russia a lead of 1.05 at the second changeover, with Sweden 2 third. Grace Molloy, double bronze medallist from earlier in the week, caught up the Russian Veronika Kalinina after 10 minutes’ running and they stayed much together until Molloy pulled away a little on the final loop. A sprint finish for third place ended with a 1-second advantage to Sweden over Finland.

Great Britain women celebrate

The Relays provided masses of excitement for another big crowd in the arena, with spectator control and marked route, finish run-in and big screen all in sight from a big spectator hillside.

Leading results, Relay

Women

1. Great Britain (Megan Keith, Fiona Bunn, Grace Molloy) 1:34:35
2. Russia (Irina Lazareva, Kristina Smirnova, Veronika Kalinina) 1:34:53
3. Sweden (Ella Olsson, Johanna Kaellvik Leufven, Alva Sönesson) 1:35:28
4. Finland 1:35:29
5. Czech Republic 1:37:50
6. Norway 1:37:58

 Men

1. Norway (Lukas Liland, Elias Jonsson, Kasper Fosser) 1:30:52
2. Sweden (Samuel Pihlström, Gustav Runefors, Axel Granqvist) 1:33:01
3. France (Guilhem Haberkorn, Quentin Moulet, Guilhem Elias) 1:34:15
4. Switzerland 1:35:09
5. Czech Republic 1:36:27
6. Great Britain 1:36:51

News and full results at https://www.jwoc2019.dk/