Master-class gold show by Tove Alexandersson

Tove Alexandersson, Sweden emulated the feat of Olav Lundanes today in winning a fourth WOC Long Distance gold in a row, with a huge win by 6 minutes and 16 seconds.

This was a run that no challenger could begin to match; a small error at the first control was the catalyst for full concentration and effort from then on. The long leg 7-8 was decisive, with many competitors taking more than 3 minutes longer than Alexandersson, but she also chose a very fast route on the long leg 4-5. She outpaced all the competition through sheer running speed coupled with fine technical accuracy, with the exception of silver medallist Lina Strand who kept up the same pace in the later part of the course. “ I heard that I had a good lead when running through the spectator passage,” said Alexandersson, “so I could relax a little on the last part of the course.”

Marika Teini, Finland was in a medal position for a good deal of the course, but lost time towards the end and finished 12 seconds down on the young Swiss athlete Simona Aebersold, who took the bronze medal 6.50 down on the winning time.

This was a good day for the Swedish and Swiss teams: Sweden had all four women in the top ten, and Switzerland all three. It’s going to be an interesting women’s relay on Saturday!

Tomorrow is a rest day, and competition resumes on Friday with the Middle Distance Finals. Here, the women’s race starts first at around 13.30 local time, and the men’s starts around 15.45.

Leading results, women

  1. Tove Alexandersson SWE 1:09:00
  2. Lina Strand SWE 1:15:16
  3. Simona Aebersold SUI 1:15:5
  4. Marika Teini FIN 1:16:02
  5. Sabina Hauswirth SUI 1:18:26
  6. Venla Harju FIN & Karolin Ohlsson SWE  1:19:14

Official results are published here