Nick Dent

Yesterday in Lavarone we had the WOC long distance event. After the urban terrain of the sprints we moved into the bush terrain for the rest of the events. A lot of the athletes were making their first appearance in WOC events after not competing in the sprint events- especially Thierry Gueorgiou and Olav Lundanes in the men who have both won two WOC long distance events.

Australia under the new IOF rules for WOC was only permitted two runners in the women’s and one in the men’s. This system has been introduced as a result of having no qualification events for the middle distance and the long distance. This system also means that our performance in these events- long, middle and relay, will determine the numbers of runners we can have at WOC in 2015 in the long and the middle.

This new system also created an interesting start list for the women’s event today where the top 10 favoured runners started in the middle of the field and some of the least experienced runners started at the end of the field. This apparently was done for TV so the concentration of the television production could be focused on the top runners. This start list created a lot of comment- and hear is mine” what is the IOF thinking in allowing this to happen? If this is what they want they might as well have just the top 10 or 20 runners in the event and not worry about the rest because the commentary and probably the TV was purely focused on the seeded top 10 runners. No recognition was given to any of the women who started after the seeded group. This is a very elite euro centric view and does nothing to help the growth of the sport beyond the big five countries”.

The ironic feature of all this is that the winner of the women’s event did not come from the seeded group of runners and was not considered to be a possible winner until after she actually finished. The was winner Svetlana Mironova (Russia), in a time of 79:44, Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) 2nd and Judith Wyder (Switzerland) 3rd. Mironova was a clear winner and she was the leader at all the radio controls. She is the first Russian woman to win the WOC long distance event.

Hanny Allston had a very strong run to come into 13th place in a quality field. Hanny was pleased with her performance and said she felt good about the race. She was not sure of one longer route choice where she went left and Mironova went right and gained time on all the rest. Vanessa Round who had not been feeling well in the last two days ran a steady race to finish in 43rd place.

In the men’s race it was no real surprise to anyone that Thierry Gueorgiou (France) was a the winner in a time of 94:45 with Daniel Hubmann (Switzerland) 2nd and Olav Lundanes (Norway) 3rd. Gueorgiou becoming the first man to win 3 long distance WOC events. Simon was competing in his first Long Distance event at WOC, he ran a very steady race to finish in 43rd place. Simon commenting that he just didn’t have the strength on the hills that the others had. A very commendable performance in a very challenging race especially physically.

Thursday is a rest day before we move to the complex terrain of Campomulo (NE of Asiago) for the middle distance and the relay on Friday and Saturday.

Today was the conclusion of the WUOC for 2014 in Olomouc. The relays were held on the same map as yesterday’s middle distance event. After the km rates that were run yesterday we were expecting some fast times by the winning relay teams.

In the men’s relay the Swiss were leading at the change over for the third leg and with Martin Hubmann being their third leg runner most were expecting a Swiss victory. However, by the first radio control the lead had changed and the Swedes were in the lead, a mistake in the green by Martin Hubmann. Oskar Sjoberg had taken the lead and held on to win from the Czech Republic, with Marin Hubmann in third.

Women’s Relay mass start

The women’s event was a double to the Swedes with Lilian Forsgren being first back on the first leg and they held on to win, with the Czech Republic in second and Finland finished in third.

Men’s Relay mass start

The Australians were realistic about their chance given the fast times yesterday. The women finished in 18th (officially) after some small errors were made in the green. The men’s event started dramatically for the Australians. Bryan Keely being our first leg runner in the mass start fell over before the bridge crossing on the way to the start triangle and he was accidentally hit in the back of the head by a runner who later apologized. Bryan was in the front of the pack at the time and by the time they went across the bridge he was in last place and rubbing his head. Bryan collected himself and the team finished in 17th place (officially).

Full results and maps can be found

http://wuoc2014.cz/result.html

Today at Protivanov was another successful day for the Swiss and the Swedes at this years WUOC. Albin Ridefelt (Sweden) was a comfortable 36 second winner in the men’s race. He had a very fast time of 31.44 for the 6.90km course. This was well under the expected winning time. Lucas Basset (France) was second and local Jan Petrzela (Czech Republic) was third. In the womens race Sarina Jenzer (Switzerland) was a comfortable winner, with local Iveta Sistkova (Czech Republic) second and Sund Goril Ronning (Norway) third.

The best performed Australians today were Bryan Keely 44th in a time of 37.57 and Krystal Neumann who recovered from her experience in the sprint yesterday to finish in 52nd place in a time of 39.53. The map was very flat and fast but many of the controls were on features in green vegetation, usually minor watercourses. Bryan said he just didn’t have the running speed in this type of forest with very soft ground. Krystal was very pleased with her performance today especially her navigation.

Other Australian results were: Belinda Lawford 67th, Bridget Anderson 70th, Lauren Gillis 81st, Murray Scown 60th, Todd Neve 81st, Andrew Barnett 100th.

Tomorrow is the conclusion of this year’s WUOC with the relay which will be held on the same map and at the same arena as the middle. Australia will be represented in the women’s relay by Bridget Anderson, Belinda Lawford, Krystal Neumann, and in the men’s relay by Bryan Keely, Murray Scown, Andrew Barnett

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.