European MTBO Championships: mixed sprint relay win for Finland

European MTBO Championships: mixed sprint relay win for Finland

The final race of the European Championships in Poland, the mixed sprint relay, ended in a comfortable victory for the Finnish team of Marika Hara and Jussi Laurila. Russia took the silver medals and Switzerland the bronze.

The mixed sprint relay is for teams of two riding 4 legs in all, the woman riding the first and third and the man the second and fourth. First into the finish at the end of the first leg was home rider Anna Kaminska who led Marika Hara by 27 seconds, but soon after Jussi Laurila got into the lead and it was held by the Finns from then on.

For Marika Hara this was a welcome gold medal after having to retire from the Long distance race yesterday following a heavy fall. Both she and Jussi Laurila had won their individual sprint race earlier in the week. Today’s gold medals were Laurila’s fourth of the week and Hara’s third.

Silver medallists today were the Russian pair Svetlana Poverina and Ruslan Gritsan, 1.51 down, and 8 seconds later the Swiss team of Ursina Jäggi and Christian Wüthrich finished in bronze medal position.

The World MTBO Championships take place in Estonia in the period 26-31 August.

Leading results – mixed sprint relay

1. Finland (Marika Hara & Jussi Laurila)  57:12
2. Russia (Svetlana Poverina & Ruslan Gritsan)  59:03
3. Switzerland (Ursina Jäggi & Christian Wüthrich)  59:11
4. Poland  59:30
5. Czech Republic  60:27
6. Austria  61:16