September 4th, 2025
ÖTILLÖ, the Swimrun world championship 2025
Perfect conditions at ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship 2025
Press Release
| Arnaud de Lustrac (FRA) and Jérome Gueguen (FRA) win on first attempt. Sabina Rapelli (SUI) and Anna Hellström (SWE) set a new course record. Skårbratt’s (SWE) take the win after coming second last year. |
| Slightly overcast and very calm weather made for perfect race conditions in the Stockholm archipelago for this year’s ÖTILLÖ Swimrun World Championship. The water temperature was around 15 degrees and the air temperature around 17 degrees. The World Championship Course is a very challenging race from the island of Sandhamn to the island of Utö, 70 kilometers across the Stockholm archipelago. Participants have to cross 24 islands, in total they complete 61 km of trail running and 9 km of open water swimming. In the men’s category, the French duo of Arnaud de Lustrac and Jérome Gueguen were racing head to head with former World Champions Hugo Tormento and Adriel Young (AUS) for a long time. It was only at the beginning of the long run on the island of Ornö, 45 km into the race, that Arnaud de Lustrac and Jérome Gueguen could open a gap and gain a lead of just over 1 minute until the end of Ornö, which they could defend until they reached the island of Utö. Ultimately they won with a lead of just over five minutes. It was their first time racing in the World Championship against a competition, that had all raced multiple times prior to this 19th edition. Rémi Andrade and Tom Ralite came third in a total time of 7:25:47. In the mixed category, Johan and Hanna Skårbratt (SWE) delivered a masterful tactical performance. They paced themselves in the early phase of the race, letting other teams take the lead, only to pass them on the last third of the race course to take the win. They finished 5 minutes ahead of the French duo Florian Schäfer and Lydie Waucquier who themselves had passed two other teams on the long run on Ornö. Former World Champion Ulrika Eriksson (SWE) and David Pesquet (FRA) finished in third place. In the women’s race, reigning World Champion Sabina Rapelli from Switzerland won together with former World Champion Anna Hellström (SWE). They showed an outstanding performance, beating the second placed team by more than one hour and setting a new course record. Veronica Wenner and Jenny Svensson, both from Sweden, came second in their first ever ÖTILLÖ race. Pernilla Irewährn from Sweden, repeated her third place finish from last year, albeit with a different partner, Anna Larsson (SWE). ÖTILLÖ Swimrun World Champions 2025: Men: Arnaud de Lustrac (FRA) and Jérome Gueguen (FRA) – Team Kebab League, 7:13:05 Mixed: Hanna and Johan Skårbratt (SWE), Team Happy Swimrun, 8:03:39: Women: Sabina Rapelli (SUI) and Anna Hellström Team Orama Anna & Saby, 8:24:01 (new course record) Statement Arnaud de Lustrac: “It was a hard day. It started off just the way we wanted and then once we arrived on Ornö we started to open a gap to the following teams, but it was also the moment that it became very very hard for me at least. Jérome was on another planet today. I was even thinking of giving up, but that is the beauty of swimrun, you are doing a sport as a team of two and so I could not give up because Jérome had the greatest day I have ever seen him have, so I had to do it for him. I have never pushed as hard, mentally. In the end it will be a crazy memory with a great friend.” Statement Jérome Gueguen: “It was a really good day. Everyone had told us how Ornö was going to be hard, and we said, well if it is going to be hard then let’s make it really hard and run as fast as we can. I had been thinking about this run for an hour before, and when we got there I was really ready to run. Arnaud had a bit of a rough time on Ornö, but he helped me so much on all the swims before, so I said let me pull him now as hard as I can. It was not until the second from last swim of the day that we felt that we could really win this, because we could not see them behind and we knew they could not see us.” Statement Anna Hellström: “It went like we had hoped for. It was hard as it always is at the World Championship but we had a really good teamwork.” Statement Sabina Rapelli: “We trained together a lot and we had two goals: one was to finish well and the other one was to break the course record. We both failed in the last two years to beat the record and this year the conditions were very good so we hoped it could work. Anna was very strong on Ornö.” Statement Hanna Skårbratt: “Last year we were so tired on Ornö, and we did not want that to happen again, so we were really keeping track of our pace. We had expected that some of the teams would be really fast from the start so we said let them be fast. Then towards the end of the race we increased our pace and that worked out well for us.” Statement Johan Skårbratt: “Even though we were initially behind some other teams we felt quite sure that we could get them again later in the race. By Ornö church we felt that we had a comfortable lead, but then found out that it was only one minute and then we really pushed as hard as we could for the final stretch.” Race Results ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship MEN 1. Arnaud de Lustrac (FRA) & Jérome Gueguen (FRA) – Team Kebab League 7:13:05 2. Hugo Tormento (FRA) & Adriel Young (AUS) – Team ARK Swimrun 7:18:50 3. Rémi Andrade (FRA) & Tom Ralite (FRA) – Team Armageddon 7:25:47 MIXED 1. Hanna & Johan Skårbratt (SWE) – Team Happy Swimrun 8:03:39 2. Lydie Waucquier (FRA) & Florian Schäfer (FRA) – Team Schäfer Coaching 8:09:08 3. Ulrika Eriksson (SWE) & David Pesquet (FRA) – Team David and Ullis 8:18:34 WOMEN 1. Sabina Rapelli (SUI) & Anna Hellström (SWE) Team Orama Anna & Saby 8:24:12. 2. Veronica Wenner (SWE) & Jenny Svensson (SWE) Team Amazonerna 9:37:04 3. Pernilla Irewährn (SWE) & Anna Larsson (SWE) Team Apex 9:48:15 Find the official race results here. Photos/Videos for free media use Official images (please credit photographer/ ÖTILLÖ) Video footage About ÖTILLÖ and Swimrun Swimrun is an endurance sports where you alternate trail-running and open-water swimming on a marked course. ÖTILLÖ is the leading brand and the origin of the sport. ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship (ÖTILLÖ meaning island to island in Swedish) is the original swimrun race, renowned as one of the toughest one-day races in the world. https://otilloswimrun.com In 2025, there are thirteen qualifying races to the World Championship: – ÖTILLÖ World Series Catalina, USA, 27 April – ÖTILLÖ World Series Utö, Sweden, 7 June – ÖTILLÖ World Series Engadin, Switzerland, 5 July – ÖTILLÖ World Series Whistler, Canada, 6 July – ÖTILLÖ World Series Gothenburg, Sweden, 26 July – ÖTILLÖ World Series Åland, 9-10 August – ÖTILLÖ World Series Casco Bay, USA, 10 August -ÖTILLÖ World Series Mackinac Island, USA, 24 August -ÖTILLÖ World Series Rügen, Germany, 13 September – ÖTILLÖ World Series Orcas Island, USA, 14 September – ÖTILLÖ World Series Cannes, France, 4 October -ÖTILLÖ World Series Colorado, USA, 5 October – ÖTILLÖ World Series Austin, USA, 9 November At each World Series event an EXPERIENCE & SPRINT race is also organized. ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship 19th edition on September 1st, 2025 150 teams from all over the world 70 km over and between 24 islands in the Stockholm Archipelago. Renowned as one of the toughest one-day races in the world Social Media You will find updates in our social media channels over the weekend. Please use #otilloswimrun, #otillo and tag @otillorace when making posts. |
