Switzerland delivered a commanding team performance to win the Sprint Relay at the 2026 Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) in Karlskrona on Tuesday, securing the nation\u2019s first-ever junior world title in the discipline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The quartet of Henriette Radzikowski, Lo\u00efc Berger, Matthieu B\u00fchrer and Leonie Mathis crossed the finish line after 52.51 minutes, finishing 25 seconds ahead of France, while Czechia claimed the bronze medal a further five seconds back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following Monday\u2019s individual sprint races, the athletes returned to the streets of Karlskrona for a course that combined the city centre with the historic island of Stumholmen. Ligesom i g\u00e5rsdagens sprint, skabte artificial barriers og impassable walls udfordringer i udf\u00f8relsen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Strong French opening<\/strong> The decisive move came on the third leg. Starting 30 seconds behind the leaders in fifth place, yesterday\u2019s Sprint world champion Matthieu B\u00fchrer ran the fastest leg among the men, erased the deficit and sent Leonie Mathis onto the final leg with a seven-second lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mathis, who won silver in Monday\u2019s individual sprint, handled the pressure with maturity. She made no mistakes and extended the Swiss lead to a commanding 25 second win and a historic gold medal in the discipline, that was introduced at JWOC in 2022. Switzerland has never claimed a medal in the discipline before today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fanny Delahaye won the battle for silver for France, while the defending JWOC champions Czechia completed the podium in third. Finland finished fourth ahead of Australia, with Sweden taking sixth place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Junior World Orienteering Championships got off to a great start on Monday morning when the sprint kicked off the JWOC week in the heart of the host city, Karlskrona.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The temperature had actually dipped compared to the weekend\u2019s heatwave, but it was still a sunny and warm first day of competition at the championships in Sweden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Home win for Hjerne<\/strong> Fast split times on some of the longer legs to controls 10 and 12 gave the Swede such a big lead that she could afford to lose a few seconds towards the end and still hold on to the lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The course took the athletes around central Karlskrona and through several detailed backyards, where they were forced to keep their heads cool so as not to lose time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Behind the Swede, Leonie Mathis (SUI) had a strong and steady race and came in second place four seconds behind, while the 16-year-old Sara Deli\u0107 (CRO) surprisingly took bronze. As recently as Friday, the Croatian won the long distance at the European Youth Orienteering Championships in Slovenia and she was also part of the winning relay team the following day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n B\u00fchrer is back<\/strong> Behind him, the two Australians Cooper Horley and Elye Dent shared the silver medal. The two compatriots thus took a big leap forward in the results list, considering they came in 37th and 39th respectively in last year\u2019s JWOC Sprint in Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last year\u2019s Junior World Champions Jonas Fenne Ingierd (NOR) tied for the fourth place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leading results<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n TEAM<\/strong> Men<\/strong> Women<\/strong> Switzerland delivered a commanding team performance to win the Sprint Relay at the 2026 Junior World Orienteering Championships<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[361],"class_list":["post-14358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-orienteering"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
France controlled the opening half of the relay, with Lucie Gaudion handing over in the lead after the first leg. Switzerland stayed within striking distance thanks to a composed opening run from Henriette Radzikowski, who handed over in second place. On the second leg, France maintained its advantage \u2013 now seven seconds ahead of Czechia and with Finland in third position.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFavourites claimed first golds in Karlskrona<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Besides the weather, the home crowd had plenty to be happy about as the Swedish junior profile Freja Hjerne started off by taking the title in the women\u2019s class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the men\u2019s event, Matthieu B\u00fchrer, who won four medals at the JWOC 2024, was back on the top podium. The 20-year-old Swiss, who was injured during last year\u2019s championships, was the strongest today. He took the lead after the long leg to control 10 and at the finish was a full 17 seconds ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1 Switzerland 52:51
2 France +0:25
3 Czech Republic +0:29
4 Finland +0:38
5 Australia +0:49
6 Sweden \u00a0+1:27<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1 Matthieu B\u00fchrer, SUI 13:56
2 Elye Dent, AUS +0:17
2 Cooper Horley, AUS +0:17
4 Jonas Fenne Ingierd, NOR +0:28
4 Nathan Philibert, FRA +0:28
6 Vladimir Srb, CZE +0:37<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1 Freja Hjerne, SWE 14:27
2 Leonie Mathis, SUI +0:04
3 Sara Deli\u0107, CRO +0:15
4 Fanny Delahaye, FRA +0:20
5 Anni Jantunen, FIN +0:21
5 Lucie Gaudion, FRA +0:21<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"