Norway with Anna Ulvensøen and Jørgen Baklid remain as world champions after victory by 52 seconds today. Sweden and Switzerland fought a close battle for silver, with Sweden finishing in front by 5 seconds.
In sunny conditions in Austria, the Sprint Relay was held in largely open terrain with many ski tracks and structures. The courses provided good route choice legs, those involving some climbing proving best for those with good physical strength. In this competition, teams of two ski 6 legs of about 7 minutes’ duration each, in the order M-W-M-W-M-W, and at the end of leg 1 it was Nicola Müller for Switzerland in the lead, 2 seconds ahead of Norway’s Jørgen Baklid. On leg 2, Eliane Deininger SUI and Anna Ulvensøen NOR had a close race throughout, with the Norwegian coming to the changeover 3 seconds ahead.
Baklid started to display his fitness and skills on leg 3, giving Norway a 15-second lead at the end. At this point Jonatan Ståhl for Sweden 1 was 49 seconds down on the lead. On leg 4 it became clear that Magdalena Olsson saw a chance of catching the Swiss, and despite Deininger taking a clever short-cut, the gap was narrowed to 2 seconds by the end, both just over 50 seconds down on Norway.
On legs 5 and 6 Norway retained their lead and finished strongly to retain their title. First it was Ståhl and Müller fighting for second place, with the Swiss athlete coming to the final changeover 3 seconds ahead; on the final leg, different route choices led to Sweden getting 6 seconds ahead by the second control, and Olsson’s greater strength on the hills also counted in her favour as the leg progressed. But Deininger rallied and at the finish the gap was only 5 seconds, and Switzerland were nevertheless very happy to have won the bronze medals; the same pair finished fifth two years ago.
Bulgaria performed well to take fourth place after a sprint finish with Finland, and Estonia came in 10 seconds later to take sixth.
Jørgen Baklid returns home with four gold medals; his performance was really impressive throughout, both physically and technically. The women’s gold medals were shared equally between Magdalena Olsson and Anna Ulvensøen, both showing their strengths in varying conditions. Overall a very good championships, well organized by the Austrians at a challenging and attractive venue with excellent facilities and good maps.
The Junior World and European Youth athletes also had sprint relays today; medal-winning teams and podium photos are shown below.
The SkiO World Cup Final and U-23 World SkiO Championships, now coupled with the World Masters Championships after lack of snow caused their cancellation earlier, take place in Estonia in the period 23-25 February.
Leading results, Sprint Relay
- Norway 1, Jørgen Baklid and Anna Ulvensøen 43:10
- Sweden 1, Jonatan Ståhl and Magdalena Olsson 44:03
- Switzerland 1, Nicola Müller and Eliane Deininger 44:08
- Bulgaria, Stanimir Belomazhev and Antoniya Grigorova 46:17
- Finland 1, Niklas Ekström and Maria Hoskari 46:17
- Estonia 1, Mattis Jaama and Daisy Kudre Schnyder 46:27
Junior World Championships Relay
W20: gold – Sweden, silver – Norway, bronze – Czechia
M20: gold – Estonia, silver – Finland, bronze – Czechia
European Youth Championships Relay
W17: gold – Czechia, silver – Finland, bronze – Latvia
M17: gold – Latvia, silver – Finland, bronze – Czechia
All photos: Elisabeth Kirchmeir