Author: craigf

The Australian men’s team have been promoted to division 2 for 2017 after finishing 19th in yesterday’s relay, which concluded the World Championships. The first half of the relay was excellent for Australia, with Julian Dent finishing the first leg in 10th place and Simon Uppill climbing to 9th early in the course, but he was then caught by the chasing pack. The final leg ended up as a trans-Tasman battle between Leon Keely and Chris Forne, with the New Zealander narrowly winning the sprint finish.

After a good start, Krystal Neumann dropped off a closely bunched pack on the first leg. Vanessa Round regained some ground on a solid second leg, and by the arena passage on the last leg, Jo Allison was in a six-way battle for 13th place. The faster runners in the pack got away in the final sector and the team’s eventual result was 17th.

The Norwegian men led almost from the gun to the finish line; Carl Godagar Kaas had broken away from the pack by the third control and they never let the lead go thereafter. Switzerland occasionally threatened to challenge, getting within 40 seconds early on the final leg, but were never able to bridge the gap. Sweden won a close three-way battle for the bronze, with Ralph Street leading Great Britain to fourth for the third successive year.

Russia won their first women’s relay gold. They were in contention all day, although for much of the way, Finland were (slightly surprising) leaders. Natalia Gemperle, already a dual medallist this week, caught Merja Rantanen by the arena passage and then broke away on the last part of the course. Maja Alm’s last-leg charge through the field for Denmark looked likely to finish in a bronze, but it ended up being silver after Rantanen lost time at the second-last control.

Full results are available at the WOC website.

Julian Dent was the leading Australian performer in the World Championships long distance today. On a physically and technically demanding course, a consistent run saw him in 35th place. Olav Lundanes of Norway took an impressive gold medal, catching the three runners ahead of him (including two of the favourites, Swiss duo Daniel Hubmann and Matthias Kyburz) on his way to victory. Thierry Gueorgiou’s fast finish saw him squeeze Hubmann out of silver. Timo Sild of Estonia, well-known to South Australian orienteers, was in front at times after a very fast start and looked a good chance for the podium most of the way, but faded late to finish 10th.

Tove Alexandersson took her second individual gold medal of the week. She had to work had for it, as the duo of Natalia Gemperle and Judith Wyder held sway most of the way, but some wobbles by them in the second half combined with a fast finish from the Swede saw her take the last in the last few minutes of the course for a 26-second win. Gemperle also got her second medal of the week, a silver, ahead of Anne Margrethe Hausken Nordberg, with Wyder fourth. Both Australians found the going tough, with Jo Allison losing time in the final loop to finish 45th, and Natasha Key 52nd.

Further information is available on the WOC website.

The Championships conclude with the relay on Saturday.

The Men’s Middle Distance World Championships was a tight race between several of the hot favourites in Stromstad, Sweden. Most of the top runners limited their mistakes, but route choices to avoid the steep rock-faces and thicker forest were the key to finishing in the fastest time.

Daniel Hubmann (SUI) took an early lead, but a small mistake at #16 relegated him to the bronze medal; his 21st medal at World Championships! Olav Lundanes (NOR)took a round about route choice to #4, but he made this up with the best route going straight through the paddock to 17 to take the lead. He was still in front at #21, but then lost some time, and the gold medal, by going straight through the green to #22. Matthias Kyburz (SUI) won the race to add to his 2016 European Championship Middle victory, and Silver in the WOC Sprint on Saturday. Kyburz took the best route choice when it mattered on the deciding leg to control #22, earning his 4th World Championship gold medal.

7 time Middle Distance Champion, Thierry Gueorgiou (FRA), lost some time taking a wider right route choice to #12, and was never quite able to get back into the medals, finishing in 4th place. Having not won the Middle World Championship since 2011, this may have been his last attempt.

Australia’s only male competitor, Julian Dent, had a solid race to finish in a strong 44th place out of 76 starters. He took a wider left route to #4, and then had some trouble with #5. Dent was then able to spend a lot of the race with the Polish runner, Pawlak, and work his way back through the field ahead of New Zealand’s Tim Robertson (48) and Toby Scott (52).

In the women’s race, Canadian, Emily Kemp, held the lead for much of the afternoon. It was not until the top seeds reached the final loop that she was challenged. Kemp changed her mind exiting control 18, and then tired in the last km. Heidi Bagestvold (NOR) was the first to set a new best time, taking the lead with a fast track route choice to 21. Natalia Gemperle (RUS) finished strongly, but didn’t take the fast track route, and finished behind Bagestevold to take 2nd. Tove Alexandersson (SWE) lost time at #3, but was too fast for everyone else and won by 35 seconds. Remarkably this is her first ever WOC gold medal after dominating most international orienteering events in the last 2 or 3 years.

Vanessa Round had an excellent run, taking the early lead and holding it for some time. She eventually finished 36th. In her comeback to World Championships, Jo Allison started well and finished in a solid 45th place out of 66 starters.

All results, maps, splits and GPS tracking can be found here.

Australia has finished 20th in the sprint relay at the World Orienteering Championships. Krystal Neumann led off in 22nd in a closely bunched field, with Leon Keely lifting the team to 20th with a solid second leg. Henry McNulty and Natasha Key then maintained that position through the second half of the race.

Sweden gained a narrow lead on the third leg, but the top two from the individual sprint, Maja Alm (Denmark) and Judith Wyder (Switzerland), again blew the rest of the field away, with Alm’s run allowing the Danes to retain their title. Switzerland took silver, with the hosts dropping back to bronze.

Competition now moves to the forest, with the middle distance to take place on Tuesday.

Results are available on the WOC website.