Sweden and Norway excel in Knock-Out Sprint qualifications

The home audience in Borås will have plenty of Swedish runners to cheer on when the World Cup Knock-Out Sprint begins at 14.30 CEST (UTC+2) Saturday afternoon in centre Borås.

13 Swedish runners got on to the quarter finals from the qualification races Saturday morning – among them Lina Strand, Hanna Lundberg and Martin Regborn who all won their respective heats.

But they will face strong competition from the Norwegian national team, who took 12 places in the quarter finals. Here Kasper Fosser and Eirik Langedal Breivik won their heats.

As always, some runners leave the qualification races with disappointment, as they don’t manage to finish among the 12 fastest runners in each heat, who qualify for the Knock-Out rounds.

Most notably Yannick Michiels (BEL), who finished third two days ago in the World Cup Sprint was one second away from qualification. Daniel Hubmann (SUI) and EOC 2021 silver medalist Joey Hadorn (SUI) didn’t qualify either.

Results from qualification races at IOF LIVE

Knock-Out Sprint program – time zone: CEST (UTC+2)

14.30 Quarter Finals

16.00 Web-TV begins at IOF LIVE (broadcasted at SVT, NRK and Viaplay Finland)

16.07 Semi-finals begin

17.20 Men’s Final

17.35 Women’s Final

Photos: IOF/William Hollowell