Local Borås fans will have plenty of Swedish runners to cheer on when the World Cup sprint knockout kicks off at 2:30 p.m. CEST (UTC+2) on Saturday afternoon in central Borås.

13 Swedish riders qualified for the quarter-finals of the qualifying races on Saturday morning, including Lina Strand, Hanna Lundberg and Martin Regborn who all won their respective heats.

But they will face stiff competition from the Norwegian national team, who took 12 places in the quarter-finals. Here, Kasper Fosser and Eirik Langedal Breivik won their heats.

As always, some riders leave qualifying races in disappointment, failing to finish among the 12 fastest riders in each round, who qualify for the playoffs.

In particular Yannick Michiels (BEL), who finished third two days ago in the Sprint World Cup, was one second from qualifying. Daniel Hubmann (SUI) and 2021 EOC silver medalist Joey Hadorn (SUI) did not qualify either.

Qualifying race results at IOF LIVE

Knock-Out Sprint program – time zone: CEST (UTC+2)

2:30 p.m. Quarter-finals

4:00 p.m. Start of Web-TV on IOF LIVE (broadcast on SVT, NRK and Viaplay Finland)

16.07 Start of the semi-finals

17.20 Men’s Final

5:35 p.m. Women’s Final

Photos: FOI/William Hollowell