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Double joy for Sweden who beat Finland to regain local athletics bragging rights

Armand Duplantis with Finnish competitors at Finnkampen
Armand Duplantis with Finnish competitors at FinnkampenBildbyran / ddp USA / Profimedia
After an increasingly rare double win for Finland a year ago, Sweden have regained the titles in both the men's and women's competitions in the 2025 Finland-Sweden Athletics International in front of a packed crowd in Stockholm.

Known in Swedish circles as Finnkampen (The Finn battle) and as Ruotsi-ottelu (The Sweden match), the two countries' finest athletes meet across all track and field disciplines for the annual grudge match which was celebrating its centenary this year.

Armand Duplantis was in action in front of the home crowd, emphasising the significance of participating in the event even with the 2025 World Athletics Championships less than a month away.

The pole vault world record holder needed only to clear a height of 5.80m to take the maximum seven points for Sweden, a whole 49cm lower than his latest world record of 6.29m set earlier this month.

Another Swedish world champion, Daniel Stahl, avoided an upset to take maximum points for Sweden in the discus, while European 20km champion Perseus Karlstrom took victory in the 10km race walk.

In the end, the men's competition wasn't close - Sweden took a 252-201 win, the biggest margin of victory for a decade.

Duplantis then turned his focus to supporting his younger sister, Johanna, who was competing for the Blagult for the first time. Despite Mondo's encouragement, Johanna finished in last place after failing to clear 4.13m.

Some of Finland's best moments came in the women's competition - Krista Tervo set a meeting record in the women’s hammer with a throw of 76.22m, while first place in the javelin went to Lassi Etalatalo after a season’s best of 81.90m.

Despite those, the final score of women's match wasn't much closer, as Sweden won 242.5-211.5.

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