World of O News
After a very exciting WOC Middle Final yesterday, we are ready for the WOC Sprint today. The Qualification starts at 09:00 CET – whereas the final starts at 16:20 CET.
Important facts Sprint Qual/Final
The 15 best from each qualification heat in the morning go to the final. There are a total of three heats – thus 45 runners in each of the finals. In the qualification the mens course is 2.9 km (14 min) and the womens course is 2.5-2.6 km (14 min). The final courses are 3.2 km for the men (15 min) and 2.6 km for the women (14 min).
Follow the event live
- Live results Sprint + Live text commentary + live speaker sound (free) + Startlists sprint
- GPS Tracking (pay service – 5 euros)
- Live video (pay service – 5 euros – included in GPS tracking payment)
WOC History
Another useful resource is the World of O Runners WOC history page – giving you all the best WOC results for each discipline sorted by country. Who is the best placed Latvian in the Long distance ever? Of course you knew: Ants Grende in 1993. (Note! As you see in the comments, a Latvian runner was better placed in 1989, but she was then running for Russia). We will also try to update these pages during the championships.
#WOC2009 @ Twitter
Follow the action in at the World Orienteering Champs through Twitter. Below the latest Tweets for #WOC2009 are shown in the LiveBlog. Your tweets including the hash-tag #woc2009 will also show up below. There is also a mobile version of the LiveBlog here.
Program
The first two days are the most important ones for many of the smaller orienteering nations – then we have qualifications in Middle and Long distance. The first final is the Middle final at Wednesday – whereas the Long final is the last competition in this World Orienteering Champs at Sunday August 23rd.
- Sunday 16.08: Middle Qualification, 10:00-12:00 CET
- Monday 17.08: Long Qualification, 09:00-12:00 CET
- Wednesday 19.08: Middle Final, 10:00-14:15 CET
- Thursday 20.08: (1) Sprint Qualification, 09:00-11:00 CET. (2) Sprint Final, 16:20-19:00 CET
- Friday 21.08: Relay, 11:00-16:30 CET
- Sunday 23.08: Long Final, 11:00 CET – 16:00 CET
Course lengths
For complete information about the courses, see Bulletin 4.
- Middle Qualification: Men 5.1 km (25 min), Women 4.1 km (25 min)
- Long Qualification: Men 10.4-10.5 km (58 min), Women 6.5-6.8 km (43 min)
- Sprint Qualification: Men 2.9 km (14 min), Women 2.5-2.6 km (14 min)
- Sprint Final: Men 3.2 km (15 min), Women 2.6 km (14 min)
- Middle Final: Men 6.6 km (35 min), Women 5.3 km (35 min)
- Long Final: Men 17.6 km (95 min), Women 11.8 km (75 min)
- Relay: Men 6.0-8.8-8.7 (36-53-53), Women 4.9-6.9-7.2 (32-43-45)
Note! The 15 best in each qualification heat will qualify for the final.
Maps and Terrain
We have published a separate article about the maps and the terrain. You find the article about old maps for the competition areas here.
The terrain for all competitions except for the long final and the sprint is described as non-typical karst with a small number of negative features and many point objects. The terrain is quite hilly, and the competitions will be physically though. For the sprint, the terrain is describes as semi-urban with many paths and some erosion features. The long distance final is the most special terrain ? with many negative features and quite stony.
GPS Tracking, Live results and Live tracking
There will be live GPS Tracking form the middle final, long final and relay. Note that GPS-tracking is a pay-service, and you will have to buy a code before you can view the tracking. Tracking is available through www.smartway.hu.
In addition to GPS Tracking, there will be live results, the organizers provide live text commentary, and maps will be presented in RouteGadget after the competitions.
