Tove Alexandersson and Gustav Bergman retained their good leads from yesterday’s race without coming under the pressure of being sighted by others today, and finished 1.30 and 1.58 respectively in front of the rest of the field.
Joy from Tove Alexandersson on the finish line
The race was a shortened Long distance with a very long first leg with significant route choice variations, and included a ‘diamond loop’ forking section. Tove Alexandersson opted for direct routes as usual, but the longer variations using tracks and paths were also quite popular. Alexandersson made an error in the start of the diamond and lost 1½ minutes, but leading chaser Natalia Gemperle made a slightly worse mistake around the same time and was caught by the following group. From then on, Alexandersson’s run was fairly error-free, but others were gaining by group running.
Home runner Marika Teini was second into the finish behind Alexandersson, followed by Kamilla Olaussen, Norway more than a minute later. Gemperle finished fourth. Fastest run in the women’s race was by Anastasia Rudnaya, Russia, completing 1.55 faster than Alexandersson, whilst Anna Bachman, Sweden was just 1 second slower than Rudnaya.
Gustav Bergman celebrates a comfortable win
There were similar experiences for the men, with most of the leaders making small but not significant mistakes. Miika Kirmula, Finland, was the one leading runner to improve on yesterday, coming up from seventh to fourth in a race time almost 2 minutes quicker than Bergman’s; he was on a sprint finish with Magne Dæhli, Norway but missed third place by 1 second.
The fastest on today’s course, Sweden’s Emil Svensk, was 2.21 quicker than Bergman. Olav Lundanes, Norway dropped from third to ninth, running overall 4.13 slower than the fastest time. Last year’s World Cup winner Matthias Kyburz, Switzerland ran soundly today and gained one place, finishing tenth.
The races started and finished in the arena, and there was also a long arena passage immediately before a short final loop, so plenty of action for the many arena spectators to watch. The weather was sunny, but breezy and not as hot as yesterday.
On Tuesday the Team World Cup gets under way with a Sprint Relay in Helsinki, starting at 18.00 local time.
Leading results, after chasing start: times shown are lead from Middle + time today = total time
Women
- Tove Alexandersson SWE 0:1 + 58:49 = 58:50
- Marika Teini FIN 3:00 + 57:20 = 1:00:20
- Kamilla Olaussen NOR 4:06 + 57:20 = 1:01:26
- Natalia Gemperle RUS 2:09 + 59:55 = 1:02:04
- Karolin Ohlsson SWE 3:75 + 58:41 = 1:02:06
- Anastasia Rudnaya RUS 5:22 + 56:54 = 1:02:16
Men
- Gustav Bergman SWE 0:1 + 1:12:18 = 1:12:19
- Frederic Tranchand FRA 1:34 + 1:12:43 = 1:14:17
- Magne Dæhli NOR 2:52 + 1:11:31 = 1:14:23
- Miika Kirmula FIN 4:02 + 1:10:22 = 1:14:24
- Martin Regborn SWE 3:21 + 1:11:15 = 1:14:36
- Daniel Hubmann SUI 3:41 + 1:11:15 = 1:14:56