The bronze medal continues in the European relay – Finland takes third place in the sprint relay – Sports – svenska.yle.fi

On Wednesday, Thomas Heikkila took bronze in the European Union sprint. Today he participated and led Finland to another medal. Together with their teammates Inkka Nurminen, Teemu Oksanen and Finnla Harju, they were able to increase Finland’s medal tally.

The mixed relay was on the schedule for today’s European Orienteering Championships. 25 countries started and Sweden entered the competition as favourite.

It was also Sweden who actually took the lead during the first leg thanks to Tove Alexandersson. But Finland’s Inka Nurminen fought well and turned into seventh lady, about a minute and a half ahead of Sweden.

Nurminen produced a good opening that her teammates took full advantage of.

Teemu Oksanen lifted Finland and gained several seconds over the leader. In the fifteenth control, he took fifth place, and in the nineteenth control, he took fourth place, and after a strong final race, he became the third man.

The second leg was run by Thomas Heikkila, who proved to be in fine form when he won the individual bronze medal in the sprint. The impressive performance continued – Heikkilä moved up to second place, just 33 seconds behind the Swedish leader.

Historical medal

Heikkila handed over the task to Venla Harjo, who shouldered great responsibility. Both Switzerland and Norway were breathing down their necks and a medal was not a given.

But halfway through the final stage, Norway lost ground at the same time that Harjo increased his speed. The entire Finnish team can accompany Harju during the riots. In the end, the distance to Norway was nine seconds.

For Finland, the performance was a historic medal for the first value competition in the sprint relay. The closest they came to a medal was in 2016 when Finland came in fourth place.

The Swedish team also made history when they won their first gold medal in the sprint relay. Broadcaster Sarah Hagstrom was able to handle it relatively easily, thanks to the gap created by her teammates.

– I could really relax when I heard that Martin had such a big gap. “I knew I ran at my best when I could run on my own, so I was very happy with that gap,” Hagstrom said after the race.

Teammate Martin Regbourne was proud of the team.

-It feels so good. It was Sweden’s first European Championship gold, so it’s fun to make history.

The Swedish team included Tove Alexandersson, Jonathan Gustafsson, Martin Rijbjörn and Sarah Hagström.