World of O News
Swiss, Czech and Scandinavian Dominance in the JEC Sprint. Today’s sprint race of the Junior European Cup on the premises of the Bad Gottleuba Health Clinic bore testimony to the top condition especially of the runners from Switzerland, Denmark, Norway and Czech Republic. Victories went to Pavel Kubat (CZE), Matthias Kyburz (SUI), Emma Klingenberg (DEN) and Fiona Kirk (SUI). Switzerland continues to dominate international orienteering with 5 out of 12 medals.
Typical autumn weather and the courses on the steep terrain interspersed with banks of up to 3 meters height, covered in wet autumn leaves and slippery meadows, staircases and streets made the search for the controls mainly a search for the right balance. On all four courses, the wooded and park areas had to be passed several times and additionally some quick decisions about the ideal route around the clinic buildings were necessary. The simultaneous start in all four categories and a start interval of one minute made it necessary to keep concentration on a high level and ignore any distraction from other runners coming from all directions.
The courses with many free-standing controls laid in the health resort also offered spectators exciting insights into the competition. The most impressive result of today was the performance of the Swiss runners who won both junior classes and in class W20 even fought out all three first places between themselves. With the exception of class M18, all other classes saw only runners from the four nations Switzerland, Czech Republic, Denmark and Norway on the rostrum and in the diploma categories which promises to lead to an exciting nations ranking fight in the long distance and relay races.
Maps from the Junior European Championships sprint are now available via Omaps.worldofo.com:
Results
Men 18
1 Pavel Kubat Czech Rep. 15:03
2 Hakon Westergard Norway 15:09
3 Peter Hodkinson Great Britain15:28
4 Felix Späth Germany 15:29
5 Patrik Wägeli Switzerland 15:32
6 Jan Petrzela Czech Rep, 15:37
Men 20
1 Matthias Kyburz Switzerland 15:49
2 Søren Bobach Denmark 16:09
3 Ulf Forseth Indgaard Norway 16:48
4 Florian Howald Switzerland 16:57
5 Torgeir Norbech Norway 17:03
6 Rasmus Folino Nielsen Denmark 17:24
Women 18
1 Emma Klingenberg Denmark 16:18
2 Tereza Novotna Czech Republic 16:24
3 Sarina Jenzer Switzerland 16:41
4 Julia Gross Switzerland 16:44
5 Stine Bagger Hagner Denmark 17:01
6 Franziska Dörig Switzerland 17:09
Women 20
1 Fiona Kirk Switzerland 16:41
2 Sophie Tritschler Switzerland 17:40
3 Brigitta Mathys Switzerland 17:41
4 Zenia Hejlskov Mogensen Denmark 17:48
5 Jana Knapova Czech Rep. 18:33
6 Brit Ingunn Nydal Norway 18:35
Source: JEC2009 website and e-mail from organizers. Photo by JEC2009 organizers.
