Inspiring ÖTILLÖ SwimRun World Championships images
The ÖTILLÖ SwimRun World Championship is a super tough and amazing endurance sports event and here are images from that memorable and inspiring event in Sweden courtesy of Jakob Edholm and Nadja Odenhage.
This 75km SwimRun event is not only about swimming and running endurance and fitness, but smart tactics, smooth team work and fast transitions.
At 6am the teams started their long day of 65km trail running and 10km open water swimming. On the right hand side the American Valhalla Racing team of Lars Finanger and David Thompson were among the early pace setters.
During the first couple swims the teams were still relatively close together, but that was about to change.
Daniel Hansson and Lelle Moberg of team Swedish Armed Forces led the bunch here and controlled the action.
Through magical woods with challenging footing onto the next swim, and of course more running and swimming.
The water was cold and challenging, but sometimes getting out was even more tricky and demanding.
But after a long swim land was a welcoming sight. Here Martin Nilsson (SWE) and Fredrik Nilzén (SWE) of team "As a blini" finish one more swim section.
Petter Askergren (SWE) and Mårten Vidlund (SWE) of team Addnature/Heja Stina fully focused on the task and the long day ahead.
Some teams used fins, but simple paddle / pull buoy combinations are much more common. For Jonas Ekman (SWE) and Lars Ekman (SWE) of Olanderswim.se the fin action worked however and they finished 5th in 8:28:15.
The defending mixed team champions Staffan Björklund (SWE) and Marika Wagner (SWE) of team Apollo Sports/ HEAD Swimming were chasing the leaders all day, but were always within striking distance. In the end however they finished second in 9:09:52.
For Faris Al-Sultan this event was his second SwimRun experience and he and Swedish partner Peter Oom grabbed a very respectable 15th place in 9:18:01.
Good team work is as we said very important. Here Erik Froode (SWE) assists his team mate Matilda Bertlin (SWE) to get out of a tricky and slippery water exit. This mixed team finished 6th in 9:47:53.
Good trail running skills are highly recommended for this course and the same is true for grippy and light trail running shoes.
This German team took off the trail running shoes to swim and stashed them in their wetsuit. Watching them do this on live video, it did not appear to be very efficient, but it only needs to work for them.
The female team Addnature with athletes Kristin Larsson (SWE) and Annika Ericsson (SWE) destroyed the previous course record by close to an hour and won the race in 9:32:03.
The leading mixed team of Adriel Young (AUS) and Eva Nyström (SWE) was in the mix near the front of the race all day and also broke the course record on the way to the win.
Two defending champions combined to form this new team. Bibben Nordblom (SWE) and Maja Tesch (SWE) would finish in 9:48:01 – also breaking the previous course record.
Good scrambling skills are very helpful here. Plus confidence is a bonus.
Going sub-8 was considered near impossible. Lelle Moberg (SWE) and Daniel Hansson (SWE) of Swedish Armed Forces, recorded a superb 7:59:04
