Nothing was decided in the overall Orienteering Team World Cup before Sunday’s relays north of Kuopio in Finland, where this year’s World Cup Final took place.
Before the start of the men’s relay, Switzerland led the overall standings – 13 points ahead of Norway and a 51-point lead over the defending champions from Sweden.
And the Swedes looked to be chasing the trophy from the start, as Viktor Svensk (SWE 1) went hard on the first leg of the men’s relay, opening a gap to the 54 other starting teams.
Along the way he had a gap of 40 seconds, but at the exchange there were 25 seconds down to Anton Johansson (SWE 3) and Jørgen Baklid (NOR1), who led the chase group of 15 teams.
More or less the same picture continued on the second leg, where Max Peter Bejmer succeeded in holding on to the lead for the Swedish first team. 12 seconds was the lead ahead of Simon Imark (SWE 3) at the exchange and a total of seven teams were within 23 seconds of Bejmer.
On the third leg, it was all turned upside down when Martin Regborn (SWE 1) lost decisive time on his way to first control and left the lead to a trio consisting of Kasper Fosser (NOR 1), Miika Kirmula (FIN 1) and Gustav Bergman (SWE 2).
They followed each other until the third last control, where Fosser and Kirmula made a mistake, while Bergman ran straight to it.
Bergman could not be picked up and ran home a Swedish victory, while Fosser won the duel for second place against Kirmula, who otherwise had an enthusiastic home crowd with him.
Gustav Bergman celebrating in the run-in with Kasper Fosser behind him. Photo: Joni Solonen
Sweden thus took over the lead in the overall Team World Cup, Norway held on to second place, while the otherwise leading Swiss had to see themselves slide down to third place after a fourth place in the men’s relay for SUI 2.
And if Switzerland or Norway had dreamed of revenge in the subsequent women’s relay, they were badly disappointed.
Here Hanna Lundberg set out at a crushing pace for SWE 1 that no one could follow and created a gap of one minute on the first leg.
Estonia’s Evely Kaasiku ran a strong first leg and was second fastest, while there was another 20 seconds down to Johanna Ridefelt (SWE 2) in third place.
On the second leg, Sanna Fasth continued the Swedish show. After the race, she said in the winner’s interview that she prefers chasing other teams in relays, but that was not to be seen today, when she flawlessly increased the lead to an impressive 2:41 at the changeover.
Behind her, the first teams from Finland, Norway and Switzerland were close together in the duel for second place.
Tove Alexandersson, who has won the two individual races at the World Cup Final in Finland, continued to show high speed and despite a small mistake in the long leg after the arena passage, the Swedish victory was never in danger.
Simona Aebersold lost time on her way to control 3 and effectively ran Switzerland, who were without Natalia Gemperle today, out of the top 3 there. In front of her, a fierce battle for second place unfolded between Andrine Benjaminsen (NOR 1) and Venla Harju (FIN 1).
Both lost time in the same place as Alexandersson after the passage, but Benjaminsen was fastest at the last control and ended up being almost half a minute ahead of Harju at the finish line.
Hanna Lundberg laid the foundation stone for Sweden’s win on the first leg. Photo: Joni Solonen
It was Sweden’s first wins in international relays this year and also secured them overall victory in the Team World Cup ahead of Norway, Switzerland and Finland in that order.
Sweden’s team celebrating the Team World Cup title.
Find full results, GPS-tracking and photos in IOF LIVE
IOF President Tom Hollowell thanked World Cup Final and WOC 2025 Event director Jari Kymäläinen and the many volunteers for their work.
Women’s relay:
1. Sweden (Lundberg, Fasth, Alexandersson) 1:25:51
2. Norway (Dyrkorn, M. Olaussen, Benjaminsen) + 2:37
3. Finland (Teini, Sianoja, Harju) +3:06
Men’s relay
1. Sweden 2 (Ridefelt, E. Svensk, Bergman) 1:23:22
2. Norway (Baklid , Langedal Breivik, Fosser) +0:02
3. Finland (Oksanen, Savolainen, Kirmula) +0:09
Team World Cup, Final standings
1.Sweden 5887 points
2. Norway 5525 points
3. Switzerland 4938 points
4. Finland 3735 points