First win since 2015: Swiss men’s relay wins World Cup gold

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The Swiss orienteers also triumphed on the final day of the home World Championships in Flims-Laax. The day after the double victory in the middle distance by Matthias Kyburz (33) and Joey Hadorn (26), the two triumphed together with Daniel Hubmann (40) in the relay for Finland and Sweden.

With 43 seconds ahead of the Finns and 57 seconds ahead of the Swedes, Switzerland won its first World Cup gold medal in the relay since 2015. At that time, Hubmann and Kyburz had won in Scotland together with Fabian Hertner (38). The Thurgau Hubmann, who had skipped the middle distance race the day before in view of the relay, won his 29th World Cup medal – and 18 years after the first precious metal in Japan in 2005, the first on Swiss soil.

Joker Hadorn decides the race

Hadorn of all people turned out to be the biggest asset in the team of the World Cup hosts and replaced Martin Hubmann (34) in the short term. Starting runner Daniel Hubmann, lying in fourth place, gives second place in the Middle Distance World Championships, putting up an almost perfect race. Hadorn high fives after his workload with a 1:43 minute lead over goalkeeper Kyburz. His only mishap is a minor slip on the last major descent. As a result, the world champion middle distance Kyburz is safely in the lead to the finish. Due to the big lead, the Swiss trio can triumph together in the final meters.

The fact that the Berner played as a prankster for teammate Martin Hubmann, who sustained an eye injury, turned out to be an absolute stroke of luck. Hadorn was surprised in the morning when head coach Kilian Imhof knocked him out of bed an hour earlier than expected. Hadorn revealed in the SRF interview that things had gone haywire. He promptly forgot his competition pants while packing. In the end, Hadorn walked in the XL pants of the national coach.

For the Swiss delegation, it is the sixth medal in the fifth competition at the World Cup in front of a home crowd. She has already reached the goal for the final women’s relay, in which Elena Roos (32), Natalia Gemperle (32) and Simona Aebersold (25). Imhof had previously awarded at least four medals as a requirement.

Women’s relay wins silver

The Swiss women then secure another medal win at the end of the home orienteering world championships. The trio around Aebersold wins silver in the relay race behind Sweden.

After winning the men’s title, they also hoped for gold in the women’s relay in the Swiss camp. But the Swedes were too strong this Sunday. The trio of Hanna Lundberg, Sara Hagström and Tove Alexandersson won by almost four and a half minutes.

The decision in favor of the Scandinavians is already apparent from the first substitution. Elena Roos, the Swiss starting runner, passes the baton to Natalia Gemperle at almost a minute and a half from Lundberg. The handicap continues to grow after the native Russian has played. Aebersold, the long-distance world champion, follows the course two and a half minutes behind Alexandersson, the middle-distance world champion – too large a margin, as feared, to overtake the Swedes.

The Swiss won silver in the relay for the third time in a row, behind Sweden for the third time. In these title fights, the precious metal is number 7 for the Swiss delegation. (SDA/nsa)

Source : Blick