Today’s sprint was held in the surroundings of the basilica at Svaty Kopecek, which included some controls in the Olomouc Zoo and also much running on cobblestone streets in the urban area. The arena was in front of the basilica overlooking the plain and the city of Olomouc. Quite a wonderful setting for the arena.

The men’s event saw Matthias Kyburz take an early lead but his team mate Martin Hubmann a later starter was leading at the first radio control by 6 seconds so it was going to be a close race. Hubmann was two seconds down at the pre warning but he managed to sprint faster on the downhill run to the finish and despite the electric timing down to a tenth of a second he ended up with exactly the same time as Matthias Kyburz (14.13.8). So a double gold to the Swiss in the men’s. Frederic Tranchard (France) the winner of the Long Distance was a very close third, three seconds down.

In the women’s event Karolin Ohlsson (Sweden) was leading throughout the whole course and was a clear 20 seconds in front of Anastasia Denisova (Belarus). Elena Roos was third and this was another medal to Switzerland, the most successful country so far at WUOC.

The Australians ran well today with some pleasing technical runs from Bridget Anderson, Belinda Lawford, Bryan Keely and Todd Neve. The others had some problems with the route choice on the long leg from the Zoo into the urban area. A very well set course and some challenging sprint legs early in the course and this was followed with a challenging long leg.

Mens results: Bryan Keely 34th, Todd Neve 71st, Murray Scown 73rd, Andrew Barnett 91st

Womens results: Belinda Lawford 56th, Bridget Anderson 57th, Lauren Gillis 65th, Krystal Neumann 71st

Men’s Sprint Course

Full results

http://wuoc2014.cz/result.html

Splits

http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/default.asp?page=classes&databaseId=32327&ct=true

Today is the middle distance event on terrain which is described as quite flat and fast with many tracks, minor watercourses and changes of vegetation. A real contrast in technique from the long distance. The same terrain will be used for the relays on Saturday. All the team compete today and then we will determine the relay teams and running order.