ÖTILLÖ Swimrun World Championship

The course

You start at Sandhamn, the sailing island at the outer edge of the Stockholm archipelago, and finish at Utö Värdshus, on the island of Utö in the south. The organiser counts 69.8 km: 23 run sections and 21 swims, with 46 transitions between them. The sources disagree on whether it is 24 or 25 islands. Teams start in a flying start between 05:50 and 06:10, so your time begins when you cross the line, not when the first team leaves.

The running is on rock, roots and forest paths, often in wet shoes and a wetsuit, and it is the running that takes most of the day: roughly 61 km of it. The swims add up to about 9 km, the longest around 1.6 km. The Baltic is low in salt, and the organiser notes some teams race without goggles. What makes it hard is not one climb but the rhythm: dozens of cold entries, dozens of exits onto slippery rock, and the five cut-offs, the first at 09:00 in Styrsvik, that close in on slower teams as the day goes on.

There are nine energy stations, safety boats at the swims and medical staff on the course; you may not take help from anyone else, and friends may not assist you on the course. The finish is at Utö Värdshus with showers, sauna, changing tents and a dinner. Teams whose time runs out at a cut-off are stopped and taken off the course.

How to enter

You enter as a team of two, and you cannot buy a place. The organiser builds an ÖTILLÖ qualification list from individual ranking points: you earn points by finishing in the top 30 of your category at an ÖTILLÖ World Series race (60 points to a winner) or a Merit race (30 points to a winner) in the calendar year. At the start of the next season each athlete applies with a chosen partner, both partners need points, and their points are added together. For 2027 the organiser says qualified teams register from 22 December 2026, and apart from the 2026 podium there are no direct qualifications.

If you have no ranking points, you can apply for a wild card by sending the organiser an application with details of your swimrun experience; for 2027 the deadline is before April. Only a few are given each year. Partner changes are allowed in a two-week window in August, only for a sick or injured partner with a medical certificate, and only if the new team still has more points than the last team that qualified.

The fee for 2027 is marked tbc: EUR 1,800 per team for the 1-night package and EUR 2,000 for the 2-night package, which include hotel nights at Djurönäset and Utö with breakfast and dinner, ferries from Djurönäset to the start, a ferry back to Stockholm, bag transport, and the dinner after the race. That is roughly EUR 900 to 1,000 per person. Entries are final, are not refunded, and cannot be deferred or sold on. Each athlete needs insurance that covers swimrun and must be at least 18.

How to train for it

Build a ranking, not just fitness

The route in is shorter swimrun races. Plan one or two ÖTILLÖ World Series or Merit races in the year before, aim for the top 30 of your category, and agree on your partner early. Both of you need points.

Practise the transitions you will do 46 times

Long sessions that switch between running in a wetsuit and swimming in your running shoes, again and again, are closer to this race than steady hours of running or swimming. Practise getting in and out of the water on slippery rock.

Train as a pair, and tow if you need to

Partners must stay within 5 m of each other all day. Do your long sessions together and try the tow line and your pull buoy (maximum 32 x 30 x 15 cm). Learn who is stronger in the water and who on land before race day.

Run on technical ground, not only on roads

Most of the day is spent on rocky and rooty trails. Weekly runs on uneven forest paths will matter more than road mileage. Do long runs wearing your wetsuit top-down to know where it chafes.

Rehearse eating for 10 hours or more

There are nine energy stations, but you carry your own gels inside the wetsuit and may not drop litter. Practise taking food and drink in the wetsuit and in cold water, and with the cup or soft flask you must carry.

What you need

• One-piece wetsuit per person (legs and torso in one piece), suited to the water temperature. Compulsory below 19 °C; optional above.
• One whistle per person, easy to reach during swims.
• One first-aid pressure bandage per team, packed waterproof.
• A foldable cup or soft flask per person for the energy stations (your swim cap does not count); paper cups are only at the first station.
• Pull buoy of no more than 32 x 30 x 15 cm in total. Fins are banned; paddles and gloves must be carried back to the finish if you take them out.
• Swimrun-specific shoes with grip for wet rock. Organisers randomly check mandatory kit before the start and teams without it cannot start.
• Warm clothes for the ferry rides and the finish; the organiser warns of wind, rain and unseasonably cold weather.

Getting there and staying

Racers, and the people on the organiser's spectator packages, travel from Stockholm Cityterminalen by chartered bus at 14:15 on the Sunday to Hotel Djurönäset, where bibs are handed out from 15:00 to 16:45, a briefing at 17:00 is mandatory and dinner is served. On Monday a ferry takes teams from Djurönäset to the start at Sandhamn. At the finish there are two chartered ferries: 21:30 on Monday evening to Årsta brygga with a bus to Stockholm C (about 23:30), or Tuesday morning at 09:30 to Skeppsbron in central Stockholm (about 3 hours).

Accommodation is part of the package: a double room for the team at Djurönäset on Sunday night and, in the 2-night package, a room at Utö on Monday night. Utö has limited capacity and you may share. Bags are carried from Sandhamn to Utö. A visitor to the finish can take the regular ferry to Utö (last departure 16:35) or the Monday night ferry and bus for SEK 300; support on the course is not allowed.

History

The organiser says the race began in 2002 when four friends bet each other to cross the archipelago from Utö to Sandhamn by swimming and running in pairs, with the last team paying for dinner and drinks. The route now runs the other way, from Sandhamn to Utö. In the early years the winning time was around 26 hours, according to the organiser; the course record is 7 h 00 min 59 s (2022, per a third-party guide), and the winners in recent years finished in about 7 h 15 min.

Where to find out more

• ÖTILLÖ race details (opens in a new tab): The organiser's page for the 2027 race: schedule, cut-offs, fees, packages, travel and interactive course map.
• ÖTILLÖ Swimrun ranking (opens in a new tab): How ranking points are earned and how the qualification list is made.
• ÖTILLÖ standard swimrun rules (opens in a new tab): Mandatory equipment, pull buoy size, wetsuit rule and penalties.
• ÖTILLÖ Merit races (opens in a new tab): Other swimrun races that award ranking points.