[Press Release - 10/07/09 - Mario Facchini - Newspower Press Office]
- SWEDEN TAKES IT ALL AT THE JWOC 2009
- Golden Relay for Sweden and Switzerland
- In Val Canali, in the men’s relay, Sweden rules the group
- Among ladies, Switzerland grabs the gold, thanks to a lightening leg of Julia Gross
- Gold medal also to the OC of U.S. Primiero – San Martino and G.S. Pavione

[All photos: Newspower Canon]

JWOC 2009: Sweden at the top of the medal ranking list and therefore of the young world of Orienteering. This is the verdict of the fifth and last day of competitions of the Junior World Orienteering Championships, which took place in the Primiero Valley, in Trentino, Italy. The Val Canali, one of the most beautiful corners of this area of Trentino, was the spectacular venue of the last race scheduled, the team relay.

Incredible leg of Matthias Kyburz

Among men, the winning team was the Swedish one, composed by Bostrom, Ridefelt and Bergman (the winner of the long distance race of Tuesday). His team, thanks to a perfect race from a tactical and agonistic point of view, was able to defeat the strong Swiss team, but it wasn’t definitely an easy task. In the first leg, Sweden pushed really hard, with Olle Bostroem closing in first position, followed at short distance by Jerker Lysell of the second Swedish team and Thibaut Poupard of France. Philipp Sauter (SUI) had a difficult start, but the Swiss team was able to come back in the fight for the gold thanks to an incredible leg of Matthias Kyburz, who was able to close his leg in first position, with a solid gap on everyone else.

At the start of the last leg, Sweden was in second place, with 1’40’’ to recover. It could seem an advantage that could be enough to win a race, but in Orienteering nothing is sure until the last control. Bergman, one of the best runners of the group, used all his ability to close up the gap with the Swiss, taking also a couple of risky decisions to establish his course between the different controls. Hubmann tried everything to keep the pace of the young Swedish, but in the second part of the last round, Bergman shifted gear, going alone for the gold and joining his team mates on the final streak to rejoice for the victory.

Soeren Bobach in top shape

After Sweden and Switzerland, the other team stepping on the podium was Denmark, who was able to conquer a medal that seemed almost impossible after a second leg closed in fifth position and more than one minute away from the podium. The Danish team took advantage of the incredible physical shape of Soeren Bobach, who led his team on the podium and closed in third position, with a 3’12’’ gap from Sweden.

Unstoppable Julia Gross

Among ladies, the entire race was characterized by the incredible performance of Julia Gross of Switzerland. After two first good legs, run by Fiona Kirk and Sophie Tirtschler, the Swiss team laid in fourth position, with a 3’35’’ gap from the leading team, Sweden II. Nevertheless in the last leg, the last athlete of Sweden II, Linnea Martinsson, made a couple of big mistakes and left a temporary leading position to Norway, with Mari Jevne Andresen.

But Julia Gross was unstoppable today. The Swiss girl was able to find all controls without any problem, running at a pace that was just too fast for all the others, and one by one every competitor was left behind in the trail of the young Swiss. At the finish line, Norway came 1’47’’ behind the Swiss team, with a gap of 10’’ on the last runner of the Danish team, Signe Klinting.

4 Gold medals for Sweden

After today’s race, Sweden makes its way up to the top of the medal ranking list, with 4 gold on the 8 available and one silver, distinguishing itself as the main team of this edition of the JWOC. Another main character of this Junior World Championships is Ida Bobach, who – after the bronze won today – will travel home with four medals: one gold (from the long distance), one silver (from the sprint) and two bronze (from the middle distance and the relay). A new star might be born in the shades and the woods of the Dolomites, which in these days offered a perfect ground for the Junior Orienteering World Championships, thanks also to the great job did by all the volunteers of the OC of the U.S. Primiero – San Martino and G.S. Pavione. Next year the JWOC will take place in Denmark, in Aalborg, and the show will be guaranteed.

Info: www.jwoc2009.it

Men:

1) Team Sweden 2.08.51 (Boström Olle, Ridefelt Albin, Bergman Gustav); 2) Team Switzerland 2.09.34 (Sauter Philipp, Kyburz Matthias, Hubmann Martin); 3) Team Denmark 2.12.03 (Ødum Marius Thrane, Hansen Rasmus Thrane, Bobach Søren); 4) Team Sweden2 2.12.23 (Lysell Jerker, Tynong Anton, Johansson Kalle); 5) Team Norway 2.15.44 (Bjugan Mathias, Nørbech Torgeir, Indgaard Ulf Forseth)

Women:

1) Team Switzerland 1.44.42; (Kirk Fiona, Tritschler Sophie, Gross Julia); 2) Team Norway 1.46.29 (Nydal Britt Ingunn, Skjerve Elen Katrine, Arnesen Mari Jevne); 3) Team Denmark 1.46.39 (Klingenberg Emma, Bobach Ida, Klinting Signe); 4) Team Sweden 1.47.28 (Alexandersson Tove, Löfgren Kristin, Lönnkvist Jenny); 5) Team Czech Republic 1.51.12 (Bochenkova Ivana, Madlova Vera, Petrzelova Tereza)

The JWOC Relay today from 14:30 CET is the last JWOC competition. The LiveBlog below will give you all the updates you need during the very exciting and open relays. There are no obvious favourites – several countries can take the victory in both the mens and womens relays. Vote on your opinion in the poll in the LiveBlog.

Facts at a glance

• First start is 14:30 CET Saturday July 11th for men – 14:40 CET for women
• Startlist available here
• 6.4 km / 270 m / 27 controls for men, 4.5 km / 210 m / 18 controls for women
• Expected winning leg times 45 minutes for men – 36 minutes for women
• Only the first team from each nation counts for medals. I.e. if Sweden wins double with Sweden 2 ahead of Sweden 1, Sweden 2 will get gold medals and Sweden 1 will not get any medals.
• Terrain: Mixed coniferous woods with varied visibility, and areas of open meadow with scattered woodland. Plenty of rock and contour details. Mixed runnability from fast to slow. The Event Arena is in the field around Villa Welsperg

Favourite and Outsiders – Men

Favourites and Outsiders- Women

Links

• Live results
• Startlist Relay
• The JWOC 2009 official webpage – including all official information
• Result JWOC Relay 2008
• Fantasy JWOC
• JWOC Long map and results
• JWOC Sprint map and results
• JWOC Middle Final map and results
• JWOC Middle Qual map and results

LiveBlog

In the LiveBlog below you will find all the action – including all relevant links to results etc.

[Updated: Results are official] L-Team with manager Lukas took the overall victory in the Fantasy JWOC 2009 according to the preliminary results. Note that results will be checked and updated Saturday. Please report any errors in the comments. I’d also be very pleased to get some feedback on the Fantasy JWOC. Is this something we should repeat? Are the rules better than for the Fantasy World Cup? If we repeat this, I’d like to get some sponsors so I could give you some prizes…

Update July 11th 22:00: Results have been checked and are official. No complaints have been received. Congratulations to Lukas and L-Team for a clear victory!

• Fantasy JWOC overall results
• Fantasy JWOC results race 1
• Fantasy JWOC results race 2
• Fantasy JWOC results race 3

Picture above from Tutzon@Picasa

Best for race 3: Da Da Da Danes

Manager: Asbjørn Mathiasen
Earnings: 7859.5′ Euro

1.   Ida Bobach – 900′ Euro (3.)	2.   Søren Bobach – 562.5′ Euro (5.)
3.   Gustav Bergman – 407′ Euro (7.)	4.   Matthias Kyburz – 350′ Euro (8.)
5.   Philipp Sauter – 1600′ Euro (2.)	6.   Fiona Kirk – 1000′ Euro (4.)
7.   Anton Tynong – 60′ Euro (38.)	8.   Linnea Martinsson – 480′ Euro (17.)
9.   Tove Alexandersson – 2000′ Euro (1.)	10.   Martin Hubmann – 500′ Euro (4.)

It is already possible to update your team ahead of the middle distance on Friday – but it is probably wise to wait until after the qualification on Thursday.

Note! There may be errors in the results below as I got official results quite late – please report any errors in a comment below.

Overall results

[Press Release - 10/07/09 - Mario Facchini - Newspower Press Office]
- Alexandersson grabs the third swedish Gold.
- In the middle distance of San Martino di Castrozza, forecasts fulfilled
-The Nordic countries take it all, leaving only a silver for Switzerland
-Gold for Taivainen (FIN) and Alexandersson (SWE)

[All photos: Newspower Canon]

5 medals of the 6 available

The Scandinavian athletes were the main starring actors of the fifth day of the Junior World Orienteering Championships, the JWOC 2009, which are taking place in the Primiero Valley, in Trentino, Italy. Today, after the qualification of yesterday, San Martino di Castrozza was the venue of the middle distance race and the competitors coming from the far North distinguished themselves for their ability to find their way out of the woods and up on the podium, taking 5 medals of the 6 available.

- I started very early with orienteering

Among ladies, the gold medal went to Tove Alexandersson, who yesterday closed sixth in her qualification heat. Tove, one of the youngest in the group, was able to defeat all the other competitors, running an almost perfect race and – despite of a couple of small mistakes made at the last controls- was able to cross the finish line with the best time and cover the 3.1 km of the final in 23:24. “I started very early with orienteering. My parents do the sport and when I was seven years old, I started to compete.” Earlier this year, at the JWOC in ski orienteering, she won one gold in the relay and two individual medals, distinguishing herself as one of the best young stars of the orienteering world.

In second position, only 18’’ seconds slower than the young Swedish, came ngunn Britt Nydal (NOR), who took the first medal for Norway in this edition of the JWOC, while the winner of the long distance race, Ida Bobach, closed in third position with a 35’’ gap. After the medal won today, Bobach is the most winning athlete of this JWOC, with one gold, one silver and one bronze. At the same time, in this JWOC, Sweden counts three gold medals, strengthening its first place at the top of the medal ranking for nations.

Incredible year until now

Among men, the already four-time junior world champion of ski-orienteering, Olli-Markus Taivainen, did a perfect race and nothing could stop him from taking the gold. “It’s much tougher to win in orienteering than in ski orienteering, so I think this is the biggest success of my career.” Olli-Markus had an incredible year until now: earlier this year he won four gold at the JWOC in ski orienteering and even one gold in the WOC for senior in ski-orienteering. The young Finnish champion covered the 4.1 km of the race in 26’21’’, with a 39’’ gap on Philipp Sauter (SUI) – the only non-Scandinavian medallist of today – and 1’18’’ on Ulf Forseth Indgaard (NOR).

Tomorrow will be the closing day of the 2009 edition of the JWOC and the last race will be the spectacular team relay, which will take place in Val Canali, one of the most beautiful valleys of the Primero area, right at the bottom of the Dolomites. The closing ceremony instead will take place in the city centre of Fiera di Primiero at 9 PM.

Info: www.jwoc2009.it
Source: Press Release – 10/07/09 – Mario Facchini – Newspower Press Office

Men – Middle distance

1) Taivainen Olli-Markus (Fin) 26.21; 2) Sauter Philipp (Sui) 27.00; 3) Indgaard Ulf Forseth (Nor) 27.39; 4) Hubmann Martin (Sui) 28.05; 5) Bobach Søren (Den) 28.24; 6) Ridefelt Albin (Swe) 28.36; 7) Bergman Gustav (Swe) 28.52; 8) Kyburz Matthias (Sui) 28.57; 9) Klusacek Matej (Cze)29.00; 10) Hajek Daniel (Cze) 29.28

Women – Middle distance

1) Alexandersson Tove (Swe) 23.24; 2) Nydal Britt Ingunn (Nor) 23.42; 3) Bobach Ida (Den) 23.59; 4) Kirk Fiona (Sui) 24.11; 5) Aebi Bettina (Sui) 24.54; 5) Gross Julia (Sui) 24.54; 7) Teini Marika (Fin) 24.58; 8) Löfgren Kristin (Swe) 24.59; 9) Klinting Signe (Den) 25.07; 10) Arnesen Mari Jevne (Nor) 25.17

Very challenging orienteering met the runners at today’s middle distance finals. A tricky start with several rocky areas was a problem for several runners. Then came an easy middle part, before the really tricky last part where many runners did mistakes. In the end, Olli-Markus Taivainen won the mens class with a close to perfect race, whereas only 16 years old Tove Alexandersson won the gold medal in the womens class.

Maps

Below you see maps for the Mens and Womens A-finals. There were not too many routechoices today – the strategy today was to adapt the running speed to the difficulties. Maps from the B- and C-finals are in the LiveBlog at the bottom of this page.

[Map Men] [Map Women]

Results – Men

Results – Women

Note – all results above are unofficial.

• Full results (unofficial online results)

LiveBlog

In the LiveBlog below you find all of the maps from the middle final. The LiveBlog will be updated tomorrow at the Relay as well:

The most tricky and rocky areas around San Martino have been saved for todays JWOC Middle Final – the worlds best junior orienteers are going to meet really challenging orienteering today. The A-Finals start at 10:10 CET for the women and 10:21 CET for the men, respectively – whereas B- and C-Finals start at 09:00 CET. Follow the LiveBlog at the bottom of this page.

We will again offer the popular LiveBlog in a cooperation with the JWOC organizers, we hope again to have streaming speakersound, the organizers have promised to provide us with maps not too long after the last runner has started, and the runners will surely give us all the excitement we are waiting for. Join in for the fun!

Keep the speed down

As the runners didn’t enter the really tricky area I missed in at the 3 giornio d’Italia in San Martino di Castrozza in 1992 in the Qualification, the runners will probably have to handle it in the final tomorrow instead. Below you see the maps from the qualification – expect even more detailed orienteering for the Finals.

Facts at a glance

• First start is 09:00 CET Friday July 10th for B- and C-Finals
• First start is 10:10 CET Friday July 10th for A-Finals
• Last start is at 12:21 CET – everything will be over around 12:50 CET
• Startlist available here
• A-Final courses are 4.1 km / 190 m for men, 3.1 km / 140 m for women
• Expected winning time 25 minutes for both men and women
• Terrain: Nice and challenging middle distance terrain. Mainly coniferous woods with visibility from good to poor. Plenty of rock and contour details. Mixed runnability from good to slow (due to undergrowth and rocky terrain).

Links

• Live results
• Startlist JWOC Middle Final
• The JWOC 2009 official webpage – including all official information
• Result JWOC Middle 2008
• Fantasy JWOC
• JWOC Long map and results
• JWOC Sprint map and results
• JWOC Middle Qual map and results
• JWOC Training preview at Worldofo.com

LiveBlog

In the LiveBlog below you will find all the action – including all relevant links to results, streaming audio, maps when they are released, etc.

Live speaker sound, quite a lot of technical orienteering and the most interesting leg for routechoices in the JWOC so far. That’s what the JWOC Middle Qualification gave us today. Most favourites when on to the final – and tomorrow we are ready for the big day – The Middle Final – with even more technical orienteering today.

Fantasy JWOC

Remember to update your Fantasy JWOC Team – now it is clear who will be in the finals.

Maps

Below you see one of the qualification heats for men and one for women – including a WebRoute for one of the most challenging legs. The other maps are given in the LiveBlog at the bottom of this page.

Powered by WebRoute – WorldofO.com

[Map Men] [Map Women]

Results

All runners qualified for the A-finals are listed below (Note! Based on unofficial online results). 20 runners from each of the three heats qualified for the A-finals.

• Full results (unofficial online results)

LiveBlog

In the LiveBlog below you find all of the maps from the middle qualification. The LiveBlog will be updated tomorrow at the Middle Final as well:

With technically demanding rocky terrain, and only 60 of 170 men to the A-final in todays JWOC Middle Qualification, the race is going to be an exciting one even if it is ‘only’ a qualification race. The small nations are particularly interested in the Middle Qualification, as a A-final qualification is the big goal for many. In the womens class it is a little bit easier – but still less than half of the starters get to the A-final.

With tricky orienteering and some controls hidden behind big rocks, several of the favourites and outsiders may have problems even reaching the A-final. At such qualification races, attention is put on position number 20 – and not on the winner of each heat.

Keep the speed down

Above you see one leg from the 3-Day event 3 giornio d’Italia in San Martino di Castrozza in 1992 with my route drawn – the same area should be used for the JWOC Middle. In these stony areas towards the end of a course you really have to concentrate on keeping the speed down to a level where you can be in control – if not, a minute or two (and the A-final) may be lost. You may also take a look at this stony training map – again really demanding in parts.

Follow the action in the LiveBlog at the bottom of this page.

Picture from Tutzon@Picasa

Facts at a glance

• First start is 09:00 CET Thursday July 8th
• Last start is at 10:54 CET – everything will be over around 11:30 CET
• Startlist available here
• Three heats for both men and women
  - Courses are 4.4-4.5 km for men, 3.3-3.5 km for women
• Expected winning time 20 minutes for all heats
  - Competitors ranked number 20 and better in each heat will qualify for the A Final. Competitors ranked number 21 to 40 will qualify for the B Final. All remaining competitors, including those who start the qualification race but are not ranked, will run the C Final.
• Terrain: Nice and challenging middle distance terrain. Mainly coniferous woods with visibility from good to poor. Plenty of rock and contour details. Mixed runnability from good to slow (due to undergrowth and rocky terrain).

Links

• Live results
• Startlist JWOC Middle Qual
• The JWOC 2009 official webpage – including all official information
• Result JWOC Middle 2008
• Fantasy JWOC
• JWOC Long map and results
• JWOC Sprint map and results
• JWOC Training preview at Worldofo.com

LiveBlog

Below you find the LiveBlog which will be updated during the event.

With two of three JWOC competitions finished, the L-Team with manager Lukas has taken the lead in the Fantasy JWOC. For the first Fantasy JWOC competition – the Sprint Final – the all-Swiss team OLG Herzogenbuchsee took the lead. The Swiss however didn’t manage that well on the Long distance, and thus OLG Herzogenbuchsee dropped several places.

• Fantasy JWOC overall results
• Fantasy JWOC results race 1
• Fantasy JWOC results race 2

Picture above from Tutzon@Picasa

1. Kremsku dream team – 7220′ Euro

Manager: kremsku dream team
Earnings: 7220′ Euro

1.   Ida Bobach – 1500′ Euro (1.)	2.   Søren Bobach – 1000′ Euro (2.)
3.   Martin Hubmann – 660′ Euro (3.)	4.   Matthias Kyburz – 210′ Euro (20.)
5.   Jenny Lönnkvist – 800′ Euro (2.)	6.   Olli-Markus Taivainen – 330′ Euro (9.)
7.   Marika Teini – 1200′ Euro (3.)	8.   Anna Forsberg – 260′ Euro (15.)
9.   Gustav Bergman – 1000′ Euro (1.)	10.   Ulf Forseth Indgaard – 260′ Euro (15.)

It is already possible to update your team ahead of the middle distance on Friday – but it is probably wise to wait until after the qualification on Thursday.

Note! There may be errors in the results below as I got official results quite late – please report any errors in a comment below.

Overall results after 2 of 3 races

… and also routechoice of the three best women from the JWOC Long distance are now available. Above you see the top three womens routechoice for two decisive controls.

The blue line is Jenny Lönnkvist – who looses 35 seconds to Marika Teini (purple) to the 3rd control and another 1:30 to the 4th control. Bobach (red) does not have a clean race for these two controls, but still takes nearly all of her winning margin to Lönnkvist in these two controls.

* Note! In the map below, based on the split times Lönnkvist and Teini’s routes were switched in the version which was available when writing this article.

Maps with routechoice

Click the maps below to see full maps with routechoice. Official results with split times are available here.

[Map women - Map men]