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NORT Stage 1: Swiss and Swedish domination

swiss
[Updated with Final results and maps] Swiss domination among the men – Swedish among the women. Five Swiss men in the top of NORT Stage 1 – with young Matthias Kyburz on the top! Three Swedish women on top – Linnea Gustafsson taking the victory.

In the mens class,  Merz took second behind Kyburz with Hertner third, Müller fourth and Daniel Hubmann 5th (Photo above: From Daniel Hubmann @ Twitter). Best non-Swiss runner was William Lind in 6th spot. Olav Lundanes who won the qualification lost nearly a minute on a long route choice leg, and thus lost the possibility to fight for a place on the podium.

In the womens class, Linnea Gustaffson took a popular victory ahead of team mates Lena Eliasson and Annika Billstam. Eliasson was heading towards a clear victory when she did a mistake at the 13th control. The Swedish women did not perform very well in the qualification in the forest, but with Top 3 in the final they showed that their are on top in city sprints.

See the bottom of the article for maps, results and interesting GPS-analysis for the qualification – a lot of interesting orienteering there.

Overall NORT Results after Stage 1

The overall NORT result is found by subtracting the bonus seconds earned in the final (up to 120 bonus seconds for victory) from the race time in the qualification. Thus Lundanes is still in second spot overall even if he lost a lot of time in the final of stage 1. Matthias Merz is in the overall lead in the Nordic Orienteering Tour in the mens class – 21 seconds ahead of Olav Lundanes with Pasi Ikonen in third.

In the womens class Anni-Maija Fincke kept her overall lead from the qualification, even if she finished only 9th in the final. With Rantanen in second spot it is double Finland among the women overall – with Bagstevold and Wigemyr (both Norway) in third and fourth. Annika Billstam is the best Swede in 5th spot.

Men

Name Time Qualification Bonus Time Total time Stage 1 Difference
Matthias Merz 31:33 1:30 30:03
Olav Lundanes 30:35 0:11 30:24 0:21
Pasi Ikonen 30:59 0:09 30:50 0:47
Daniel Hubmann 31:51 0:55 30:56 0:53
Matthias Kyburz 32:58 2:00 30:58 0:55
Matthias Müller 31:59 1:00 30:59 0:56
Fabian Hertner 32:23 1:10 31:13 1:10
Tero Föhr 32:12 0:07 32:05 2:02
Carl Waaler Kaas 32:28 0:12 32:16 2:13

Women

Name Time Qualification Bonus Time Total time Stage 1 Difference
1 Anni-Maija Fincke 32:53 0:36 32:17
2 Merja Rantanen 33:20 0:38 32:42 00:25
3 Heidi Bagstevold 33:17 0:11 33:06 00:49
4 Tone Wigemyr 33:27 0:12 33:15 00:58
5 Annika Billstam 34:28 1:10 33:18 01:01
6 Mari Fasting 33:43 0:09 33:34 01:17
7 Maja Alm 34:22 0:34 33:48 01:31
8 Tove Alexandersson 34:40 0:50 33:50 01:33
9 Julia Novikova 34:44 0:18 34:26 02:09
10 Rahel Friederich 35:24 0:55 34:29 02:12
Maps and GPS analysis Final

The final of NORT Stage 1 was a typical urban sprint race – with a few long route choice legs (see map for the men above). Of these longer legs, the leg from 7 to 8 in the mens race proved to be very decisive for Lundanes, the winner of the qualification this morning. As you can see in the two illustration below, Lundanes and several other runners loose a lot of time to the ones taking a more direct route (note that GPS-times are very inaccurate – and the GPS of Kyburz stopped working around control 3):

lundanes
7-8

The other route choice legs on the men’s course did not have the same impact. The one from 3 to 4 was the one splitting the runners most into left and right choices – but no significant time gains were made here:
3-4

Results final (unofficial)

Men

1 21 SUI Matthias Kyburz 15:49.0
2 28 SUI Matthias Merz 15:58.3 +9.3
3 24 SUI Fabian Hertner 15:59.4 +10.4
4 26 SUI Matthias Müller 16:02.5 +13.5
5 27 SUI Daniel Hubmann 16:05.9 +16.9
6 16 SWE William Lind 16:09.6 +20.6
7 4 SWE Erik Rost 16:13.6 +24.6
8 17 GBR Scott Fraser 16:14.1 +25.1
9 10 SUI Andreas Kyburz 16:17.7 +28.7
10 1 SWE Anders Holmberg 16:24.3 +35.3
11 2 SUI Martin Hubmann 16:24.9 +35.9
12 7 RUS Valentin Novikov 16:29.1 +40.1
13 20 RUS Andrey Khramov 16:34.7 +45.7
14 8 NOR Øystein Kvaal_Østerbø 16:41.2 +52.2
15 11 FIN Mats Haldin 16:43.5 +54.5
16 22 SUI Baptiste Rollier 16:44.9 +55.9
17 13 SWE Gustav Bergman 16:46.9 +57.9
18 5 DEN Tue Lassen 16:47.0 +58.0
19 23 NOR Carl Waaler_Kaas 16:47.2 +58.2
20 30 NOR Olav Lundanes 16:52.5 +1:03.5
21 9 NOR Audun Weltzien 16:58.6 +1:09.6

Women

1 108 SWE Linnea Gustafsson 15:44.3
2 111 SWE Lena Eliasson 15:52.7 +8.4
3 124 SWE Annika Billstam 15:54.4 +10.1
4 117 DEN Signe Søes 16:01.5 +17.2
5 118 SUI Rahel Friederich 16:07.6 +23.3
6 123 SWE Tove Alexandersson 16:20.2 +35.9
7 106 SUI Ines Brodmann 16:31.9 +47.6
8 128 FIN Merja Rantanen 16:37.0 +52.7
9 130 FIN Anni-Maija Fincke 16:48.0 +1:03.7
10 125 DEN Maja Alm 16:49.3 +1:05.0
11 110 FRA Amélie Chataing 16:54.2 +1:09.9
12 102 GBR Tessa Hill 16:54.3 +1:10.0
13 122 RUS Julia Novikova 16:54.5 +1:10.2
14 119 SUI Judith Wyder 16:55.8 +1:11.5
15 103 SWE Lina Strand 16:59.2 +1:14.9
16 112 SUI Angela Wild 17:01.7 +1:17.4
17 121 SWE Emma Claesson 17:04.8 +1:20.5
18 109 NOR Elise Egseth 17:09.4 +1:25.1
19 127 NOR Tone Wigemyr 17:14.8 +1:30.5
20 129 NOR Heidi Bagstevold 17:15.7 +1:31.4
21 116 SWE Sofie Johansson 17:21.0 +1:36.7
22 126 NOR Mari Fasting 17:27.8 +1:43.5
23 107 FIN Outi Ojanen 17:29.9 +1:45.6
24 115 FIN Venla Niemi 17:30.1 +1:45.8
25 105 RUS Ekaterina Popovich 17:41.2 +1:56.9
26 101 RUS Galina Vinogradova 17:45.1 +2:00.8
27 113 FIN Bodil Holmström 17:58.1 +2:13.8
28 120 GBR Claire Ward 18:03.0 +2:18.7
29 104 RUS Nataliya Vinogradova 18:25.1 +2:40.8
30 114 FIN Maria Rantala 18:35.4 +2:51.1
Qualification

Olav Lundanes took a clear victory in the qualification of NORT Stage 1 – taking with him a big lead into the remainder of the Tour. Anni-Maija Fincke took an equally clear victory in the womens class. It looks like this qualification race will be just as important as expected, with big differences – nearly 2:30 down to number 10 on the results list both in the mens class and in the womens class.

The qualification was dominated by Norwegian, Finnish and Swiss runners. Lundanes (NOR) ahead of Ikonen (FIN) and Merz, Hubmann, Müller (all SUI) followed by Föhr (FIN), Hertner (SUI) and Waaler Kaas (NOR) in the mens class – and Fincke (FIN) ahead of Bagstevold (NOR), Rantanen (FIN) and Wigemyr, Fasting (both NOR) in the womens class. The Swedes were surprisingly absent from the top of the results lists – 11th spot in the mens class (Runesson) and 7th spot in the womens class (Billstam, after a huge mistake at the end of the course).

The best 30 men/women go on to the final in the afternoon (from 15:00 CET). Down to number 30 in the mens class there was around 4 minutes – 4:30 for the women. With 120 bonus seconds to the winner of the final – and down to 1 second to number 30 – the running time in the final not counting, the loss of a spot in the final is the least worry for those outside the Top 30 with respect to the NORT overall standings …

Maps and illustrations Qualification

The qualification courses were more middle distance than sprint – with tricky and technical orienteering. That can also be seen on the results list – the top finishers are rather middle distance specialists than sprint specialists.

Below you see the most interesting route choice leg in the mens race – leg number 2 to 3. A straight route choice was the fastest – and quite a few runners lost valuable time by going around. The fastest runner taking the left and right route choices were Swiss runners Andreas Kyburz and Matthias Müller respectively – both loosing around 30 valuable seconds in the overall.

map20110616094526_colorroute_l

map20110616094900_dots_l

map20110616094947_dots_l

Comparing the two fastest men of the qualification – Lundanes and Ikonen using the autOanalysis function (soon coming to 3DRerun), you can see that the running speed of Lundanes and Ikonen seems to have been approximately the same – if anything Ikonen was faster on shear running speed (Note! Handle these illustrations with care – study carefully before making your conclusions). Differences are especially in the route choices where Lundanes did better choices to number 3 and to number 5. Ikonen also seems to have a bad period around leg 12 and 13 – loosing time on what looks like micro route choices. The two runners have different routes from 14 to 15 – but here time differences are very small.

lundanes_ikonen_1

lundanes_ikonen_2

Below you find the complete courses and the GPS tracking.

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Results Qualification (unofficial)

Men

1 269 NOR Olav Lundanes 30:35
2 253 FIN Pasi Ikonen 30:59 +24
3 262 SUI Matthias Merz 31:33 +58
4 270 SUI Daniel Hubmann 31:51 +1:16
5 267 SUI Matthias Müller 31:59 +1:24
6 258 FIN Tero Föhr 32:12 +1:37
7 264 SUI Fabian Hertner 32:23 +1:48
8 268 NOR Carl Waaler_Kaas 32:28 +1:53
9 257 SUI Baptiste Rollier 32:51 +2:16
10 243 SUI Matthias Kyburz 32:58 +2:23
11 254 RUS Andrey Khramov 33:01 +2:26
234 SWE Johan Runesson 33:01 +2:26
13 232 LTU Simonas Krepšta 33:06 +2:31
14 252 GBR Scott Fraser 33:11 +2:36
15 246 SWE William Lind 33:13 +2:38
16 251 NOR Hans_Gunnar Omdal 33:24 +2:49
17 208 SWE Gustav Bergman 33:32 +2:57
231 SWE Olle Boström 33:32 +2:57
19 239 FIN Hannu Airila 33:34 +2:59
20 260 FIN Mats Haldin 33:36 +3:01

Women

1 347 FIN Anni-Maija Fincke 32:53
2 335 NOR Heidi Bagstevold 33:17 +24
3 346 FIN Merja Rantanen 33:20 +27
4 337 NOR Tone Wigemyr 33:27 +34
5 342 NOR Mari Fasting 33:43 +50
6 345 DEN Maja Alm 34:22 +1:29
7 349 SWE Annika Billstam 34:28 +1:35
8 332 SWE Tove Alexandersson 34:40 +1:47
9 338 RUS Julia Novikova 34:44 +1:51
10 344 SWE Emma Claesson 34:51 +1:58
11 308 GBR Claire Ward 35:03 +2:10
12 336 SUI Judith Wyder 35:16 +2:23
13 341 SUI Rahel Friederich 35:24 +2:31
14 350 DEN Signe Søes 35:40 +2:47
15 303 SWE Sofie Johansson 35:43 +2:50
16 321 FIN Venla Niemi 35:45 +2:52
17 340 FIN Maria Rantala 35:46 +2:53
18 326 FIN Bodil Holmström 36:03 +3:10
19 339 SUI Angela Wild 36:21 +3:28
20 348 SWE Lena Eliasson 36:28 +3:35
About NORT Stage 1


The tour starts with a qualification race on the morning. The 30 best women and men are qualified for the final in the evening. The time from the qualification race is the time that counts for the tour. In the final the winner get 120 seconds in bonus and then all the other runners get less time down to 1 second.

This stage of a prolonged Sprint as a qualification race in the morning, with a winning time of 30-35 minutes, followed by a Sprint final in the evening. The qualification race has an individual interval start with a 1 minute start interval. The start order for the qualification race is determined by the reverse standing of the official World Rankings as published at the end of May 2011. The qualification race times (less any bonus seconds) are used (together with the day two qualification race times) to calculate the start times for NORT day three. The final is for the top 30 athletes from the qualification race. The start order is the reverse order of the qualification race
results (winner starts last).

Terrain for middle distance style sprint is mainly pine and spuce mixed forest, good visibility, dense network of paths and mainly good run ability. Kokonniemi hill is 60 m above Porvoo river level on its highest point; so that part is rather hilly and physically demanding. It has sharp slopes and steeps. The hill area is partly very detailed demanding concentration and offering enjoyable orienteering with variable speed. Only minor part has a nature of park. Good visibility.

Sprint is run in urban area in the centre of the Old Town with old stone and wooden houses, mainly cobblestone roads, stairs and small alleys. The area has mainly level underfoot, thus offering good run ability. Old Porvoo Castle hill as well as parts of western side of Porvoo river with sharp slopes and wide paths are sandy and partly uneven. Some grassy areas appear. Generally very good visibility.

NORT 2011 Program

Following the qualification Thursday morning is a regular sprint final in the afternoon. The race time for this sprint final does not count in the overall – instead bonus seconds are awarded – 120 seconds for the winner, 90 seconds for number two, and 70, 60, 55, 50, 40, 38, 36, 34, 32, 30, 18, 17, 16 and so on down to 1 second for number 30.

After stage 1 in Finland on Thursday, NORT moves to Sweden with a KnockOut-sprint in Göteborg on Tuesday. The NORT final is a chasing start south of Oslo in Norway. The full program is shown in the table below:

Stage 1 Thursday June 16th Qual 08.00 CET: Prolonged Sprint
Final 15.00 CET: Regular sprint
Stage 2 Tuesday June 21st Qual 10.00 CET: Regular Sprint
Quarterfinal 13.00 CET: KnockOut sprint
Semifinal 18.10 CET: KnockOut sprint
Final 19.10 CET: KnockOut sprint
Stage 3 Saturday June 25th Prolonged Middle distance
Chasing start based on overall standing
Start 14.00 CET (women) and 15.00 CET (men)

About Jan Kocbach

Jan Kocbach is the founder of WorldofO.com - taking care of everything from site development to writing articles, photography and analysis.

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