SkiO World Cup: Jørgen Baklid on course for third overall victory

Norwegian Jørgen Baklid, overall winner in the last two years, heads the men’s standings after his 3-gold haul at the World Championships. Magdalena Olsson, Sweden leads the women’s standings by 85 points.

Olsson missed the 2023 season for family reasons and has come back at full strength this season, winning two of the three individual races at the recent World Championships in Austria. Her closest challenger is the Norwegian Anna Ulvensøen, 5th in the overall standings last year, who won the Middle race in the World Championships. The very consistent athlete Linda Lindkvist, Sweden, holds third place. Another member of the Swedish team, Elin Schagerström, has made the biggest improvement from last year amongst the top six, up from 9^th last year to being current 4^th.

The Swedish women’s team’s strength in depth is illustrated by having 5 athletes in the top 10. Norway has 2, and Estonia, Finland and Switzerland have 1 each.

Norway has the strongest men’s team in depth, also with 5 in the top 10. Sweden has 2, and Bulgaria, Finland and Switzerland 1 each. Apart from the supreme Baklid, the most impressive performances have come from the Swiss athlete Nicola Müller, who apart from his individual performances in the Championships (2^nd in Pursuit and Middle, 6^th in Sprint), made a strong contribution in getting bronze for Switzerland in the Sprint Relay. He is currently 2^nd in the standings after finishing in 9^th spot last year.

Third place is held by the Finnish athlete Niklas Ekström, who was third overall in 2023. As a first-year Senior, Teodor Mo Hjelseth, Norway has made a very promising start and is 6^th in the standings. He won the Middle Distance and Mass Start races at the Junior World Championships last year.

This is a 2-round World Cup, with the final round coming in the period 23-25 February in Estonia, where there will again be Sprint, Pursuit and Middle Distance races.

Leading Standings after World SkiO Championships

Women

1. Magdalena Olsson SWE 280 points
2. Anna Ulvensøen NOR 195
3. Linda Lindkvist SWE 173
4. Elin Schagerström SWE 163
5. Frida Sandberg SWE 137
6. Maria Hoskari FIN 113

Men

1. Jørgen Baklid NOR 300
2. Nicola Müller SUI 200
3. Niklas Ekström FIN 155
4. Stanimir Belomazhev BUL 153
5. Henrik Fredriksen Aas NOR 141
6. Teodor Mo Hjelseth NOR 123

The full list of current positions can be found at https://ranking.orienteering.org/WorldCup/WorldCup?wcup=skio&.