It was a close finish at the Sprint Relay race At Riccarton on Sunday afternoon with Switzerland coming out on top after a close battle with Sweden, who had mis-punched. Finland took the silver and Norway won the bronze medals.

34 teams lined up on the indoor football pitches ready for tricky route choices and bewildering gaffling.

Mass start at the Sprint Relay

Athletes were cheered on both inside and outside the arena where there was a great atmosphere!

Ralph Street runs through the outdoor fan zone

At the start of the final leg there were just seconds between the top three runners – Tove Alexandersson of Sweden, Simona Aebersold of Switzerland and Venla Harju from Finland.

A close third leg

It is Switzerland’s first gold in the sprint relay since 2014 and the first time since 2016 that Sweden has not won.

Gold for Switzerland

Top 6 results

1. Switzerland (Natalia Gemperle, Riccardo Rancan, Joey Hadorn, Simona Aebersold) 58:43.3
2. Finland (Maija Sianoja, Miika Kirmula, Tuomas Heikkila, Venla Harju) +0:38.8
3. Norway (Victoria Haestad Bjornstad, Eirik Langedal Breivik, Kasper Harlem Fosser, Andrine Benjaminsen) +1:03.3
4. Czechia (Barbora Matejkova, Jakub Glonek, Tomas Krivda, Tereza Janosikova) +1:27.2
5. France (Isia Basset, Adrien Delenne, Loic Capbern, Cecile Calandry) +1:28.3
6. Hungary (Viktoria Mag, Zoltan Bujdoso, Ferenc Jonas, Rita Maramarosi) +1:30.3

See full results and splits.

Photo Credits: IOF / Kristina Lindgren