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The women’s race was a close fight between Great Britain and Russia, with Grace Molloy holding her nerve to take the win by 18 seconds. Bronze medals went to Sweden by 1 second after Alva Sönesson overtook the Finnish runner Ida Haapala in the last few strides.

Russia showed their strength from the start in the women’s race, with both Russian teams with Sweden at the front after the first leg, followed closely by Great Britain. A 30-second error by Fiona Bunn for Great Britain on the last loop gave Russia a lead of 1.05 at the second changeover, with Sweden 2 third. Grace Molloy, double bronze medallist from earlier in the week, caught up the Russian Veronika Kalinina after 10 minutes’ running and they stayed much together until Molloy pulled away a little on the final loop. Fifth and sixth places went to the Czech Republic and Norway.

Norway’s Kasper Fosser won his third gold medal of the championships, bringing the Norwegian team in to the finish with a 2.09 lead over Sweden 2. 

At the end of the first leg in the men’s Relay, which started first, five nations – Switzerland, Sweden, France, Czech Republic and Norway – established a 1-minute lead over all others. France came into the second changeover ahead by 8 seconds over Norway 1 and Sweden 2, but Fosser quickly caught up the Frenchman and began to pull away half-way though his race. He navigated the tricky final loop after the spectator passage without any loss of time and took a clean victory to retain the Relay men’s title.

Another magnificent arena for the Relay, on a cloudy morning with a little dampness – but not enough of that to dampen the enthusiasm of the big crowd. Huge cheers for the men’s mass start, and now we are following the race on the big screen with plenty of tracking to watch, plus some TV from the forest. There is a spectator control on the edge of the arena in a patch of high-visibility deciduous forest, then a long marked route including coaching zone, all visible to the spectators. In front of that a fast downhill run from the last control to the changeover, so a fine spectator bank with everything in sight – superb!

The Norwegian Kasper Fosser again showed his class with a win by 1.09 in today’s Middle Final. Isa Envall, Sweden won the women’s race by a convincing margin.

Isa Envall set the marker point for the women’s race from a position half-way through the start list, and towards the end in particular there were several runners who seemed as though they might chase her time down. Closest was Fiona Bunn, Great Britain, who took the silver medal with a time 0.54 slower than Envall’s. Tereza Janosikova, Czech Republic, winner of two silver medals in JWOC in the last two years, was in bronze medal position today.

Kasper Fosser dominated the men’s race much as he did in the Long distance. His closest challenger was Frenchman Guilhem Elias, who ended 1.09 down. Norway ended with two medals today, bronze going to Lukas Liland.

The courses were both technically and physically challenging with many steep slopes, and with the start and a spectator control in the arena, plus the big screen, there was lots to keep spectators on their toes.

Cloudy but dry and calm conditions for the Middle distance finals this morning. The arena has been changed around from yesterday with the start in full view of the spectators, athletes disappearing quickly into the forest.

The first A-final runner, Pranas Germanavicius from Lithuania in the men’s race, starts at 10.15. The first women's start is half-an-hour later. For the A-final there is a spectator control and a spectator-friendly run-in from a new direction with a loop to the finish.

Fans from many countries are making their way into the arena, and the atmosphere is building up as the B- and C- finals reach their conclusion.

Final start times in the A-finals are 12.13 (men) and 12.43 (women), with estimated winning times of 25 minutes. There are some fascinating fights to come in the hilly Gjern Bakker terrain today!

There will be athletes from 24 nations in the A-finals tomorrow. Heat winners today include Kasper Fosser, Norway and Aston Key, Australia, champions in Long and Sprint.

Best nation was Sweden with 11 qualifiers, followed by Denmark and Switzerland with 10. Finland and Norway have 9, and the Czech Republic and France 8. At the other end of the scale, Slovakia and Ukraine have 1 qualifying athlete and Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain and USA have 2.

Unluckiest athlete was Dominika Mero, Hungary who missed qualifying by just 1 second. Two Danes missed qualification by less than 10 seconds.

Heat winners (last starters in the A-final)

Women: Fiona Bunn GBR by 0.09, Barbora Chaloupska CZE by 0.47 and Tereza Janosikova CZE by 0.42

Men: Kasper Fosser NOR by 0.39, Aston Key AUS by 0.43 and Søren Thrane Ødum DEN by 1.09

After a rest day it’s back to serious business today with the Middle Qualification in the legendary Gjern Bakker terrain, used for both World Championship and World Cup races in the past. The goal for all competitors is to finish amongst the best 20 in their heat, so securing a place in the A-Final tomorrow. There are 3 women’s heats and 3 men’s. Times are fast on this fine, sunny morning, with yet another super arena surrounded by forest, and a big crowd of excited spectators.

Tomorrow the same arena will be used for the finals.

There have been no further protests by the deadline, so the jury’s decision stands and the women’s results are now official: gold medals for both Ida Haapala, Finland and Veronika Kalinina, Russia. The bronze medal goes to Grace Molloy, Great Britain. Full official results are on IOF Eventor.

During the Long Distance competition, the touch-free function of the Russian Veronika Kalinina's SIAC Touch Free card stopped working. As a result she had to hand-punch and her finish time was registered manually by the back-up system. In the provisional results - based on her manual time - she was placed second, 1 second slower than Ida Haapala FIN. Following a protest  from Russia, concerning the precision of the finish time, the Jury (Christine Brown AUS, Kalle Dalin SWE and Szava Zsigmond HUN) decided to adjust Ida Haapala's time to 53:46, the same time as Veronika Kalinina. The decision was based on an analysis of the times recorded by the back-up timing system. The Jury decided that the organisers cannot prove that the time in the manual backup timing system is the same as that in the primary system.

As a result of this outcome, the official result list of W20 and M20 approved by SEA Hannu Pyy is published here. In view of the lateness of the outcome, complaints about these results can be presented at the Event Office until 12.00 on Tuesday 9 July 2019.

Update: At 12.00 on Tuesday 9 July 2019 no complaints were received meaning the results are now final.

Defending champion Kasper Fosser, Norway retained his title today in emphatic fashion. Despite a mistake one-third of the way through the course, he won by more than three minutes.

The race was dominated by a near master-class performance from Fosser, whose closest challengers in the end proved to be Elias Jonsson, Norway and the Sprint champion Aston Key, Australia, who took the silver and bronze medals respectively.

The women’s race has been the subject of a protest; more on that later.

The courses started out over relatively fast terrain, but then they met the steep slopes of Velling-Snabegård with its many big spurs and reentrants, which was the scene for the biggest part of the course. It was easy to get onto the wrong spur, a fate which met quite a few runners, agonising for their coaches and country-mates when displayed in GPS on the big screen in the arena. Strength and the ability to run up hills were important today as well as good navigation.