Sprint Final at Mountain Bike Orienteering Worlds

22 August 2012
craigf
No comments
Categories: 2012 Archive
Todays sprint was a very interesting experience for MTBOers. There were multiple controls off tracks, the track network was thick woven through generally open paddocks. It was imperative to stay in contact with the map, and small navigational mishaps could quickly become confusing. This is reflected in the results which are unusually spread out for a sprint race. It was again very hot but this time there was some cloud cover providing a little relief from the heat.
Marc learnt from his difficulties yesterday and focused on navigation. He says his ride felt slow, but backing off the pace obviously paid off as he rode into 16th place, a little under 7 minutes off the winner, Grigory Medvedev (RUS). Karl made some small errors, and placed a promising 27th place in his first junior world championships. Chris made some early errors, however couldn’t recover from them. Tom and Heath were disappointed with some substantial errors in the complex network of tracks and open ridable areas. They finished in 45th and 54th respectively.
Steve5The senior men was won by Tobias Breitschadel of Austria who won his first world champs gold, and the medals were rounded out by Marek Pospisek (CZE) and the ever consistent Ruslan Gritsan (RUS). Steve made large errors on the 4th and 5thcontrols before he settled into a good pace and rode solidly for the rest of the race. He is recorded as a ”mp” after one of the controls failed to read his SI-stick and then his back up punch strip fell out of his map board. Apparently, the units have been affected by the heat and have either failed or taken a long time to record.

The women’s race was won by Christine Schaffner (SUI) and silver went to Emily Benham of Great Britain who had an impressive ride in her first major international event for the year. Anna Kaminska (POL), gold medalist in 2010, got the bronze medal. Mel was pretty disappointed with a very messy race, with a combination of poor route choice early and confusing herself with a control in a parallel gully through the middle of the course.

I think everyone in the Australian camp is happy that tomorrow will be a return to more conventional MTBO with controls on tracks, but we have learnt some good lessons for the relay which will again be approximately 40% off road riding.

Videos, photos and maps (including route gadget) are available on:http://www.mtbo.hu/mtbwoc2012.php

New Zealand had riders there for the first time in 4 years.  Evergreen Maquita Gelderman did well to place 25th while Christine Browne finished in 39th.

 

The 12 elite podium-placers today represent 8 different nations, with 6 different nations on the podium in the women’s race. Russia was the most successful country with 3 podium placings.  Sweden for the first time fielded a large team.

 

 

Leading Sprint results –

Elite Women

  1. Christine Schaffner SUI 21:45
  2. Emily Benham GBR 22:07
  3. Anna Kaminska POL 22:33
  4. Tatiana Repina RUS 22:39
  5. Gaelle Barlet FRA 24:02
  6. Michaela Gigon AUT 24:03

Elite Men

  1. Tobias Breitschädel AUT 24:45
  2. Marek Pospisek CZE 24:47
  3. Ruslan Gritsan RUS 24:59
  4. Frantisek Bogar CZE 25:35
  5. Jussi Laurila FIN 25:43
  6. Valeriy Gluhov RUS 25:53

Junior Women –

  1. Lou Denaix FRA 21:52
  2. Henna Saarinen FIN 23:14
  3. Svetlana Poverina RUS 24:08

Junior Men –

  1. Grigory Medvedev RUS 22:32
  2. Marcell Horváth HUN 22:48
  3. Kare Kaskinen FIN 24:06

 

Start times for Middle distance:

Karl: 10:59     (6:59pm)

Oscar: 11:00   (7pm)

Chris: 11:09   (7:09pm)

Tom: 11:39    (7:39pm)

Ricky: 11:40   (7:40pm)

Heath: 11:53   (7:53pm)

Steve: 12:22    (8:22pm)

Marc: 12:25     (8:25pm)

Mel: 12:30       (8:30pm)