The 2015 Junior World Orienteering Championships concluded today with the relay event on similar terrain to both the long and the middle.Again the Scandinavian countries dominated the relay competition.

The Gold medalists from the long distance – Olli Ojanaho (Finland) and Sara Hagström (Sweden) – each anchored their teams to Gold medals today.

While the Finnish men won a clear victory (1:23) with few changes in the lead, the women’s relay was much more dramatic. Many big, big mistakes by teams fighting for the medals. Norway looked like a sure winner for some time, with both Norway runners making big mistake on the third leg  – then Switzerland was up in the lead – and finally Sweden emerged as a clear winner (2:24).

The Australian men’s team of (Henry McNulty, Patrick Jaffe and Matt Doyle) came 11^th (official teams) and 17^th (all teams). This was a very good performance by the team and Matt Doyle ran very strongly as third leg to be only 4:30 down on his leg. The other men’s team was in 38^th place.

The women’s teams seemed to struggle a little with their running speed after what has been a very physical week of intense orienteering competition. The team of Winnie Oakhill, Nicola Blatchford and Anna Dowling was in 19th place (official teams) and 27^th overall and the other team was in 35^th place.

Results, maps and photos

World of O analysis

Thank you to all in the team for your efforts and performances this week and a special thank you to Hanny (Coach) and Karen (Manager) for all your efforts both during the last two weeks and in the many months leading up to the competition. Well done everyone.