The 2025 Orienteering World Cup officially kicked off yesterday afternoon in Idre Fjäll, Sweden, with the qualification race for the Long Distance final. More than 300 athletes from 22 nations competed on challenging Swedish mountain terrain, running a shortened course of about 8.5 km for men and 7.5 km for women.
Three athletes from Park World Tour Italia, racing for the Italian national team, were at the start line. Sebastian Inderst delivered a solid performance, securing a place in the A-final with an 18th-place finish in his heat — among the top 20 qualifiers. Mattia Debertolis placed 30th and Jessica Lucchetta 38th, missing the cut for the A-final.
“It was a smooth and fast race as long as I stayed in control,” said Inderst. “But as soon as you lost focus, it was hard to recover. My run was very steady overall, with just one directional mistake that cost me about 30 seconds. Physically I felt good, and I’m really happy to have made it to the A-final — it was a tough qualification, especially with each country allowed to field up to nine athletes.”
In today’s Long Distance final, held on a 16.2 km course with 620 meters of climb, Sebastian finished 50th, the top Italian finisher, with a time of 1:57:55, +29:42 behind winner Kasper Harlem Fosser of Norway.
His race was marked by a major mistake at control 2, a long and highly technical leg where he lost map contact: “I had a bad start, I didn’t get into the map well. I took some risky route choices instead of investing more time in safe ones — and it didn’t work out. The middle part went well, but in the final section I really felt the length and toughness of the course. Still, it’s a valuable experience looking ahead to the Long Distance World Championships, which is my other main goal this season.”
The course proved extremely demanding, with repetitive terrain that required constant map contact. Weather was clear but chilly. In the B-final, Jessica Lucchetta finished 26th, and Mattia Debertolis 27th. The women’s race was won by Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson. The World Cup will continue on Saturday and Sunday with the Middle Distance and Relay races.