The Relay

Today saw the running of the biggest (39 teams) relay ever run in the history of the world champs. We have been looking in really good shape all week, so we were hoping for a really good result. Our relay team consisted of Jan on the first leg, Kerschi on the second leg and Bindi on the last (but shorter) leg. Thankfully, we have not been hit by the health problems that have hit many teams this week, so we were able to field a full strength team at the start.

Before the men got under way at 12h00, the women’s race started at 9:30. It was a very exciting affair, with the Finns winning it after taking the lead halfway through the 2^nd leg. They lead the Swedish and Norwegian ladies home. The Swiss finished 4^th overall after a great run by Simone.

At point twelve the men’s race started, and it looked like they were all going to die by control 1 as they sprinted out the start / finish area. Jan was right there in the bunch going well just 30 s behind at the first radio control in about 24^th place. Unfortunately for us he then made a error that cost him 4 minutes and put him out of the pack. He did a great catch up run then as he passed the spectator control in 23^rd place, and handed over 10 minutes later in 21^st place.

Kerschi went off from the word go hard, but controlled. He did an excellent race, very consistent and was overtaking throughout the leg. He passed the spectator control in18th place, just behind two athletes who he caught and passed by the end of his leg. As a additional bonus, one of the teams just ahead of him got DISQ and so we were in 15^th place.

And so it was down to Bindi, who has been clawing at the chance to get out there and show us what he could do. But alas, it was just not Bindi’s day and he made quite big error on his way to the 5^th control. From there on he was just limiting the damage, and he reached the spectator control in 17^th place. His closing round was excellent however, and he was able to overtake, and leave behind the Latvian just ahead of him to finish in 16^th place. This appears to be the Austrian boggy number as we have finished in 16^th place fairly often over the last few years.

Out at the front it was very exciting, with the Finns handing over first, just ahead of 5 or 6 nations (Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Czech, Norway), however over the course of the second leg, the Russians overtook the Finns and were never headed from there. Daniel Hubmann ran a great race for Switzerland to move them into 3^rd place. At this stage Norway was in 2^nd. The last leg saw Valentin run a masterful race to win overall, but the star of the leg must have been Emil Wingsted who moved his team from 6^th place up into 2^nd place and silver medal and Finnland were third.

And that was the relay – a bit of a disappointment for us after the excellent results from the long and middle this week, but none-the-less the same position as last year. Tomorrow is the sprint, where Kerschi will go all out to improve on his best place of 17^th in the World Championships, and we wish him all the best – go for it Kerschi!