Elite Athletes show their strength at ÖTILLÖ Utö

The third stop of this year’s ÖTILLÖ Swimrun World Series brought together 550 athletes from 38 nations for a weekend of racing at the home of Swimrun. It was the largest Utö race weekend in recent years, featuring an exceptionally strong field. Seven current and former World Champions lined up at the start, providing thrilling racing at the front which was followed by many locals on site.

The World Series course covered a total distance of 32.1 km, comprising of 4.5 km of open water swimming and 27.6 km of partly very technical trail running with a total of 35 transitions between land and water. The air temperature was 18 degrees Celsius and the water temperature was around 14 degrees.

Men: Adriel Young makes it six in a row with Alexis Charrier

In the men’s category, the French/Australian duo Alexis Charrier and Adriel Young lead the race from the beginning, but were closely followed by two other teams: Rémi Andrade & Thomas Guerry as well as Emeryc Gennesson & Rémi Menut (all FRA). The three teams were within minutes for the first half of the race until Alexis Charrier and Adriel Young could increase their lead to 5 minutes on the very technical trail running sections on the second half of the course and ultimately take the win. It was Adriel Young’s sixth consecutive win at ÖTILLÖ Utö, making him the most successful athlete in this race ever.  Rémi Andrade & Thomas Guerry took second place with Emeryc Gennesson & Rémi Menut in third. 

Adriel Young explained his success: “It was really fun to race with Alexis. Everyone asks me what is the key to doing so well and the key is that I just had amazing partners in every race.” , and added about the competition with the second and third placed teams: “Especially in the first part of the race they were with us the whole way, sitting on our feet in the swims and you are constantly stressed, but once we got a little gap we knew it was hard for them to get us, as we were really strong on the trails.”

Listen to Adriel Young reflect on his wins over the years here.

Alexis Charrier reflects on his race with Adriel Young:

“This was the first time racing with Adriel. We have raced quite a lot against each other but never together. We had a great day out in the archipelago even though it was a tough start for me. We did great team work, especially him helping with the rope in some swims since I wasn’t feeling so great during the first half of the race. Ultimately we were able to make the difference in the technical trails where we knew we were stronger. Thank you Adriel for this amazing day on the island of Utö. You embody the spirit of swimrun. I hope we can do this again soon! Thank you ÖTILLÖ for always putting together an amazing event.“

Watch the post race talk with the second and third placed teams Rémi Andrade & Thomas Guerry and Emeryc Gennesson & Rémi Menut here.

Kristin Larsson & Anna Hellström show their strength in the women’s category

In the women’s category, the very strong duo of former and reigning World Champions Kristin Larsson & Anna Hellström (both SWE) were the clear favorites, but they expected strong competition by the Finnish duo of Heidi Hyvärinen and Heini Hartikainen. Kristin Larsson and Anna Hellström took the lead from the start but, as expected, were closely followed by the Finnish Duo. 

“First race for us and we worked very well together. We pushed hard all the way and enjoyed an amazing course.”, Kristin Larsson said after her and Anna Hellström’s successful premiere as a team. Anna Hellström agreed:

“Kristin and I had a great day out on this beautiful course! The teamwork felt fantastic and we helped each other through the course, complementing each other perfectly. To have such a tight race in the women’s category is both motivating and fun to see. Utö is for sure one of the most beautiful courses in the World Series circuit, it has it all!”

Hanna Skårbratt & Alexander Berggren defeat Florian Schäfer & Lydie waucquier

In the mixed category, the two serial winners Hanna Skårbratt and Alexander Berggren (both SWE) teamed up for the first time. They lead the race early on but the French duo of Lydie Waucquier and Florian Schäfer, both strong runners, managed to catch up with the Swedes on the longer running sections in the first half of the race. On the more technical runs on the east side of Utö, Alexander Berggren and Hanna Skårbratt managed to gain a lead of six minutes. They kept their focus until the end of the race to take a very solid win. Lydie Waucquier and Florian Schäfer came second, seven minutes ahead of the third placed Polish team of Adam Ogłoblin and Aleksandra Bańbor.

Hanna Skårbratt on how the race developed for her and Alexander Berggren:

“Everyone always starts out really fast and we were not in the front from the beginning. We know how not go too hard because we have done this before. We were swimming faster than the second placed team but they were coming back on us on the runs. We could tell when they were catching up to us that maybe they were working a bit harder than we were on the running so we felt we could keep our strategy. We kept a good pace all the way to the end and were well synched as a team.“

Watch the post race interview with Hanna Skårbratt and Alexander Berggren here. 

SOLO: Matthieu Poullain is back and a fierce battle for the win in the women’s category

The solo race was also very competitive in both the men’s and women’s categories: 

In the men’s category former World Champion Matthieu Poullain from France showed a very impressive comeback after a knee injury and won with an overall time of 3:15:44, ten minutes ahead of Hauk Are Fjeld from Norway and Sampo Hyppölä from Finland. 

In the women’s category, Eleanor Lewenhaupt and Jill Wake (both SWE) were chasing each other all the way down to the finish line with Eleanor Lewenhaupt taking the win by just over a minute. Hanna Nordin von Platen (SWE) came third.

Race results

World Series Podiums by Category:

WOMEN

1. Anna Hellström 🇸🇪 & Kristin Larsson 🇸🇪 – 3:51:00

2. Heidi Hyvärinen🇫🇮 & Heini Hartikainen 🇫🇮 – 4:07:03

3. Åsa Tengblad 🇸🇪  & Stine Moellebro 🇩🇰 – 4:40:21

MEN

1. Adriel Young 🇦🇺  & Alexis Charrier 🇫🇷 – 3:16:16

2. Thomas Guerry 🇫🇷 & Rémi Andrade 🇫🇷 – 3:24:59

3. Emeryc Gennesson 🇫🇷 & Rémi Menut 🇫🇷 – 3:31:32

MIXED

1. Hanna Skårbratt 🇸🇪 & Alexander Berggren  🇸🇪 – 3:35:35

2. Lydie Waucquier🇫🇷 & Florian Schäfer 🇫🇷 – 3:55:03

3. Aleksandra Bańbor 🇵🇱 & Adam Ogłoblin 🇵🇱 – 04:02:28

SOLO WOMEN

1. Eleanor Lewenhaupt 🇸🇪 – 4:17:22

2. Jill Wake 🇸🇪 – 4:18:40

3. Hanna Nordin von Platen 🇸🇪 – 4:51:47

SOLO MEN

1. Matthieu Poullain 🇫🇷 – 3:15:44

2. Hauk Are Fjeld 🇳🇴 – 3:25:56

3. Sampo Hyppölä 🇫🇮 – 3:38:13

Further information

Find the full results here

Pre and post race interviews: ÖTILLÖ Swimrun Youtube

Images for free usage here

Updated Elite Ranking: to follow

Next race: ÖTILLÖ Swimrun Engadin, Switzerland, July 4th

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