Ö till Ö

Ö till Ö ("The Swimrun world championship") is an endurance competition that has been held annually in the Stockholm archipelago since 2006 , in which 75 km from Sandhamn to Utö (Sweden) are alternated running and swimming in teams of two. From island to island ( Swedish : "Ö till Ö") you cover 65 km on foot and 10 km swim in the mostly cold Baltic Sea as a male, female or mixed team.

Emergence

In 2002 , Anders Malm - owner of Utö Värdshus (destination) - and a couple of his employees (the Anderson brothers) had a late evening at the bar . They challenged each other: "The last two-man team in Sandhamn pays the hotel, dinner and drinks". Two teams of two started the next morning with the only rule that three different restaurants on the islands had to be passed between start and finish. The last team at the restaurant had to drink and pay for what the team had previously ordered for them. It took them more than 24 hours and at the finish they were too exhausted to celebrate a victory. They tried again the following year with the same result.

organization

In 2006 Michael Lemmel and Mats Skott joined the team and turned the crazy challenge into a professional race and are therefore considered to be the founders of the swimrun movement. As professional multisport athletes, they are pioneers of the Scandinavian adventure racing scene and have participated in over 70 of the toughest adventure races worldwide.

In the first couple of years only 11 teams started and only two finished within the time limit until they saw the only way to tackle these races: never stop and keep moving until you see the finish line. Today Ö till Ö is internationally recognized as one of the toughest one-day races in the world.

Due to the great interest, a qualification procedure for participation in Ö till Ö was introduced in 2014 .

The starting places at Ö till Ö are limited to 120 teams for logistical reasons and are awarded according to defined criteria: Race Merits (achievements already made in the swimrun), Lottery (drawing of teams) and qualifiers (placement in selected qualification races ). According to a CNN report in 2012 about the toughest one-day races in the world, the media attention outside Sweden and the number of competitions also increased.

In 2015, 99 teams reached the finish in Utö. The last event was in September 2018.

regulate

The rules are kept minimalistic:

• Equipment - all equipment must be brought independently from start to finish
• Team partners - distance from each other never more than 10 meters
• Security - e.g. B. signal whistle, GPS transmitter, emergency kit
• Cut-off times at various points on the route

This means swimming in running shoes as well as running in wetsuits, with swimming aids allowed.

Route

The route starts at the Seglarhotel in Sandhamn and ends at Utö Värdshus on Utö (Sweden) . The islands Runmarö , Nämdö and Ornö are crossed. In sum are 23 run sections ( trail running ) of 0.2 to less than 20 km and 22 floating portions ( open water swimming ) 60-1750 m to be completed.

The course record of 7:39:25 h has been held since 2018 by the two Finns Fredrik Axegård and Alex Flores.

Winners list

Winner at Ö till Ö
year	Mixed team	Women	Men
2018	Martin Flinta Helena Karásková 8:16:15 h (record)	Kristin Larsson Annika Ericsson 8:56:26 h (record)	Fredrik Axegård Alex Flores 7:39:25 h (record)
2017	Adriel Young Eva Nyström 9:01:31 h	Kristin Larsson Annika Ericsson 10:03:32 h	Daniel Hansson Jesper Svensson 7:58:06 h
2016	Adriel Young Eva Nyström 8:49:58 h	Kristin Larsson Annika Ericsson 9:32:03 h	Lelle Moberg Daniel Hansson 7:59:04 h
2015	Staffan Björklund Marika Wagner 8:55:39 h	Annika Ericsson Maya Tesch 10:30:36 h	Björn Englund Paul Krochak 8:29:11 h
2014	Jonas Udehn Ulrika Eriksson 9:52:11 h	Bibben Nordblom Charlotta Nilsson 10:26:31 h	Lelle Moberg Daniel Hansson 8: 16: 12h
2013	Fredrik Selmerde Annika Ericsson 10:33:48 h	Bibben Nordblom Charlotta Nilsson 10:54:59 h	Björn Englund Paul Krochak 8: 35: 00h
2012	Fredrik Åström Annika Åström 11:16:36 h	Helena Lindahl Linda Sernfalk 13:47:42 h	Magnus Olander Lennart Moberg 9:11:58 a.m.
2011	Joakim Axelsson Åsa Annerstedt 11:10:18 h	Annika Åström Karin Edvinsson 12:28:01 h	Björn Englund Antti Antonov 9:07:24 h
2010	Johan Nyqvist Rebecca Nordholm 11:32:29 h	Åsa Annerstedt Annie Gustafsson 11:15:42 h	Jonas Colting Gordo Byrn 9:09:15 h
2009	Mikko Kolehmainen Ingrid Stengård 11:06:16 h	Åsa Annerstedt Annie Gustafsson 11:09:36 h	Jonas Colting Martin Flinta 8:53:05 h
2008	-	-	Jonas Colting Pasi Salonen 10:14 h
2007	-	-	Martin Flinta Ted Ås - h
2006	-	-	Petri Forsman Ville Niemelä 12:00 p.m.

German athletes at Ö till Ö

Since 2010, 26 Germans have crossed the finish line at Ö till Ö (as of September 2016). The best time for a purely German team is 9:18:42 h in 2016 (André Hook & Wolfgang Grohé).

Germans at Ö till Ö
team	Members	class	time	space	year
Germany girl power aHEAD	Sabine Kost Birgit Wandratsch	Women	12:29:34	18th	2018
swimrun Germany byHEAD	Barbara Seidel Tanja Neumann	Women	13:19:29	20th	2018
Old Tribaers	Faris Al-Sultan Peter Oom	Men	9:18:01	13	2016
Team CAMPZ.com	André Hook Wolfgang Grohé	Men	9:18:42	14th	2016
frog 'n' herb	Felix Haupt Thomas Pignede	Men	9:30:16	17th	2016
swimrunART Odenwald	Frank Mertin's Sebastian Bleitgen	Men	10:05:19	22nd	2016
Team Partly relaxed	Knut Baadshaug Malte Staehr	Men	10:14:42	24	2016
The German Sparkle Party	Markus Rössel Fabian Eberhard	Men	10:18:31	26th	2016
BRUSSELS TRIATHLON CLUB	Dirk Zangen Bruno Bonnechere	Men	10:22:58	29	2016
Team Swimrun.de	André Hook Wolfgang Grohé	Men	9:28:52	8th	2015
Suunto Swimrun	Juha Lindfors Armin Hummel	Men	9:36:44	9	2015
The German Sparkle Party	Markus Rössel Knut K Baadshaug	Men	10:11:07	18th	2015
Mads & Havsmannen	Ulf Hausman Mats Rubertsson	Men	11:29:17	31	2015
Tritime	Bennie Lindberg Thomas Förster	Men	12:37:01	44	2015
Baltic Sea Action Group	Juha Lindfors Armin Hummel	Men	09:49:10	12	2014
Team SwimTrek.com	André Hook Wolfgang Grohé	Men	10:02:39	14th	2014
German Sparkle Party	Markus Rössel Fabian Eberhard	Men	11:08:01	30th	2014
SCC Berlin Triathlon	Pawel-Jascha Körner Alexander Glantz	Men	12:56:25	57	2014
Almost Freddie	Sebastian Pancratz Kathryn Twyman	Mix	13:55:33	57	2014
TSV Schleswig - Germany	Mark Tonn Gerhard Lamp	Men	13:10:57	57	2013
German Armed Forces	Lars Apitz Torsten Schreiber	Men	12:01:31	15th	2012
German Navy	Lars Apitz Bjorn Arendt	Men	12:13:14	20th	2011
TSH Team Bergamont	Tilo Budinger Frank Schulz	Men	12:37:05	25th	2011
Triabolos	Hauke ​​Heller Christian Woitha	Men	12:54:40	33	2011
TSH Team Bergamont	Tilo Budinger Frank Schulz	Men	12:03:00	16	2010
SAF / German Armed Forces	Lars Apitz Michael Froebisch	Men	12:36:03	23	2010

Web links

• Homepage of Ö till Ö

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ö till Ö - Previous Results 2006. In: otilloswimrun.se. Ö till Ö, archived from the original on September 11, 2015 ; accessed on September 26, 2015 (English). 
2. ^ ^{A b} Paul Gittings: Pushed to the limit: The World's Toughest Endurance Challenges. In: cnn.com. CNN, November 28, 2012, accessed September 26, 2015 . 
3. ^ Ö till Ö - Entry to ÖTILLÖ. In: otilloswimrun.se. Ö till Ö, accessed on September 26, 2015 (English). 
4. ↑ Ö till Ö - Media Coverage 2013. (PDF) (No longer available online.) In: otilloswimrun.se. Ö till Ö, formerly in the original ; accessed on September 26, 2015 (English).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  
5. ^ Ö till Ö - Results 2015. In: otilloswimrun.se. Ö till Ö, accessed on September 26, 2015 (English). 
6. ^ Ö till Ö - Rules. In: otilloswimrun.se. Ö till Ö, accessed on September 26, 2015 (English). 
7. ↑ Epic conditions at 2017 ÖTILLÖ World Championships (September 4, 2017)