WSOC Sprint Relay: Norway win thrilling sprint finish

WSOC Sprint Relay: Norway win thrilling sprint finish

Excitement reached peak levels today as the four leading teams came together into a sprint finish – with Norway taking gold by a hair’s-breadth! Silver and bronze went to Finland and Sweden, with Switzerland a close fourth – only 7 seconds down on the winner.

This was a really thrilling end to the 2026 SkiO season! The SkiO Sprint Relay format of 2 athletes per team, one female and one male, skiing three laps each (M-W-M-W-M-W), really showed its worth on a fine morning in Rusutsu, Japan. For the fastest skiers, the legs took on average 9 minutes to complete, so the winning time was just under an hour.

Norway’s Jørgen Baklid leads away from the Start           Photos: WSOC

[Cover photo: Finland changeover, Ekstrom to Futka]

Niklas Ekstrӧm, Finland came to the first change-over just ahead of Norwegian Jørgen Baklid, with the Swiss and Swedish teams third and fourth. For the next three laps, favourites Norway, with Anna Ulvensøen partnering Baklid, established a lead of between 20 and 27 seconds, with the following three teams alternating in position.

Leg 5 saw Finland come in only 7 seconds behind Norway, giving the Finn Amanda Yli Futka a real chance of catching Ulvensøen. Sweden and Switzerland were in with a chance too, only 10 and 11 seconds respectively behind Norway. All doing the same course on the last leg! And so to the sprint finish, down to the strongest skiers on the day: Ulvensøen across the line just ahead of Futka, with Anna Magdalena Olsson, partnered with Andrei Lamov – both in their last race for Sweden before retirement – 2 seconds down in third place.

Sprint finish – Ulvensøen crosses the line just ahead of Futka, Olsson and Deininger behind

A fine championships, well organized by Japan on challenging terrain and with good weather, brings the 2026 international SkiO season to a close. The Championships were graced by the presence, at the Sprint Relay and the medal and closing ceremonies, of Her Imperial Highness Crown Princess Akishino and His Imperial Highness Prince Hisahito, members of the Imperial House of Japan.

In the overall Team competition, including the Relays in Luleå and the Sprint Relay here, Sweden emerge with a very narrow victory over Norway – a difference of 11 points in a total of 4,500 – with Finland third.

Leading results, Sprint Relay

1. Norway 1 (Jørgen Baklid & Anna Ulvensøen) 55:45
2. Finland 1 (Niklas Ekstrӧm & Amanda Yli Futka) 55:46
3. Sweden 1 (Andrei Lamov & Anna Magdalena Olsson) 55:47
4. Switzerland 1 (Nicola Müller & Eliane Deininger) 55:52
5. Bulgaria 1 (Stanimir Belomazhev & Antoniya Grigorova) 59:23
6. Czechia 2 (David Elleder & Tereza Peckova) 59:24

Teams Sweden 2, Finland 2 and Switzerland 2 finished between 4^th and 5^th placings.

Team World Cup

1. Sweden 4501 points
2. Norway 4490
3. Finland 4243

4^th Switzerland, 5^th Czechia, 6^th Estonia