Swedish IFK Göteborg is widely considered the strong favourite in both events this weekend.
On Friday evening, in the sunny Mikkeli market square, the club is represented by coach and chairman Lars Johansson, who has strong confidence in his team.
– In the Venla relay, I definitely hope that we will be among the top three’ he enthusiastically declares.
-We have four good teams, and I believe that three of them will finish in the top fifteen. But the Venla relay is short and fast, and anything can happen; even small mistakes can be crucial.
Of the other competitors Johansson considers Stora Tuna to be a particularly strong favourite.
-Tove Alexandersson as an anchor is obviously a tough opponent. But our anchor, Sanna Fasth, is also in really good shape.
The Gothenburg teams have several young stars who are also members in their respective junior national teams. One of them will be put to the test in Jukola relay due to a last-minute change.
– Håvard Sandstad Eidsmo has fallen ill and will return home. He will be replaced on the first team’s fifth leg by Odin Ek from the second team.
We also have high goals for the Jukola relay.
– We are aiming to be among the top five. Kasper Fosser is in great shape. If he manages to start the anchor leg a couple of minutes behind the leaders, he still has a chance of catching up.
On the other hand, IFK Göteborg team learned the hard way that everything that can happen in a relay race.
In this year’s Tiomila, their first team’s relay runner skipped one control point and the team was disqualified.
– Helsingin Suunnistajat is certainly strong. Of course, Stora Tuna and Linné are also favourites in the previews.
At the time of the media event on Friday evening, the Gothenburg teams were still training on two different maps.
– Many of us have been here the entire week. Our orienteers have been training a lot in Finland, considering that the World Championships will take place here.
According to Johansson, the varied terrain in the Mikkeli region seems to be quite like their home terrain in western Sweden.
– Of course, our top athletes are so experienced that they can cope with all kinds of terrain, because they have trained and competed all over Europe.
Text: Heli Kauppinen
Photo: Mika Luukkonen