The first Orienteering World Cup round of 2023 came to an exciting end, when Sweden won both the men’s and women’s relays Sunday afternoon in Østfold, Norway.
A clear blue sky welcomed the athletes to the go-karting arena, which for the third day in a row made up the arena for the World Cup races.
The men were the first to start and saw two close legs to begin with. Ukraine’s Ruslan Glibov led a pack of eight teams including Sweden, Switzerland and Finlands first teams within 14 seconds into the exchange after the first leg.
The three teams mentioned above with Emil Svensk (SWE), Joey Hadorn (SUI) and Olli Ojanaho (FIN) took over the lead from Ukraine on second leg, where Eskil Kinneberg (NOR) ran Norway’s first team back in the competition after picking up 20 seconds on the lead.
On the third leg Gustav Bergman (SWE1) made a great start creating a gap of around a minute before the arena passage. Even though the teams behind caught up some seconds on the last loop, Bergman ran alone into the win at the finish line.
Gustav Bergman celebrates the win with teammates Regborn and Svensk. Photo: Snorre Veggan
Behind him, Miika Kirmula (FIN1), Håvard Sandstad Eidsmo (NOR2) and Matthias Kyburz (SUI1) had a fierce sprint for the second place, with Kirmula passing the finish line ahead of Eidsmo and Kyburz.
Kasper Fosser (NOR1), who won both the Long and Middle races in the days before, was not able to follow the fastest men on the last leg.
In the women’s relay, Sweden 1 was looking to repeat the men’s success after Hanna Lundberg ran the team first into the exchange after first leg. 14 seconds ahead of Sweden 2 (Karolin Ohlsson) and with Elena Roos (SUI1) six seconds further behind.
But during the second leg, Tove Alexandersson lost time on two controls before the arena passage and Sweden 1 dropped down two minutes – making space for six teams to take the lead: Norway 1 (Tone Bergerud Lye) and 2 (Ingrid Lundanes), Sweden 2 (Elin Månsson) and 3 (Johanna Ridefelt), Switzerland 1 (Natalia Gemperle) and Estonia 1 (Annika Rihma) all within seven seconds at the last exchange.
Lisa Risby (SWE2), Simona Aebersold (SUI1), Andrine Benjaminsen (NOR1) and Lina Strand (SWE3) separated from the rest and stayed in the fight for first place.
At the end, Risby proved to be the strongest and beat Aebersold and Benjaminsen by 12 and 25 seconds respectively. Sweden 3 was disqualified due to a missed punch.
Lisa Risby is greeted by teammates Ohlsson and Månsson at the finish. Photo: Snorre Veggan
Go to IOF LIVE for full results, GPS-tracking, TV and World Cup standings.
Top 3 results (preliminary):
Women
- Sweden 2 (Ohlsson, Månsson, Risby) 101.57 minutes
- Switzerland 1 (Roos, Gemperle, Aebersold) + 0.12 minutes
- Norway 1 (Andersen, Bergerud Lye, Benjaminsen) + 0.25 min.
Men
- Sweden 1 (Regborn, Svensk, Bergman) 97.13 minutes
- Finland 1 (Syrjalainen, Ojanaho, Kirmula) + 0.12 min.
- Norway 2 (Steiwer, Breivik, Eidsmo) + 0.13 min.