World of O News
Matthias Kyburz (Switzerland) was the big star of the orienteering events in World Games 2013 with three times gold – winning a close battle in the opening sprint distance, a clear victory in the middle distance and a deciding the mixed sprint relay for Switzerland on the third leg. Annika Billstam (Sweden) and Minna Kauppi (Finland) won the individual gold medals in the women’s class.
World Games offered varying orienteering – from sprint orienteering described as very easy in the opening race to partly very dense “jungle-like” forest in the middle distance. Kyburz mastered it all – in addition to the hot an humid weather – securing three gold medals for Switzerland.
– Too much in the green
The most interesting orienteering was offered in the middle distance (see map sample of part of the men’s course above) – where Matthias Kyburz won a clear victory 1:40 ahead of team colleague Daniel Hubmann with Lithuanian Vilius Aleliunas in third 0.4 seconds behind Hubmann.
– Safe run was the key to my success today. I did not make any mistakes, except that I maybe was too much in the green areas, Matthias Kyburz commented his victory to orienteering.org.
Kauppi’s revenge
Minna Kauppi won the women’s class 43 seconds ahead of Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) with Ukrainian Nadiya Volynska in third. The middle distance was run on a map drawn according to sprint norm – but with all the green and some tricky controls this was far from a sprint race.
– I have not trained much since the World Championships, so yesterday’s sprint was probably a good preparation for today’s race, winner in the women’s class Minna Kauppi said to orienteering.org after the race.
Billstam’s sprint Gold: Biggest challenge to keep up the speed
Many of the runners described the sprint courses as easy – still several of the runners made mistakes in the humid, hot weather.
– The course was easy, but I think the course setter did the best he could with the area. The challenging parts were to get the controls in the park in a good flow and be in advance in your orienteering the whole way, women winner Annika Billstam said to orienteering.org.
– On the long running legs we tend to read the map for the coming legs. However, you have to be very careful to still concentrate on the leg you are running. Otherwise you might make a “stupid” mistake.
Billstam – silver medalist from WOC sprint – won ahead of Anne Margrethe Hausken (Norway) and Maja Alm (Denmark).
Kyburz’s sprint gold: – Brutally hard
In the men’s class Matthias Kyburz won ahead of Andrey Khramov (Russia) and Jerker Lysell (Sweden).
– It was physically – and due to the heat in the end – brutally hard, Matthias Kyburz commented to Swiss-Orienteering.ch. Kyburz described the orienteering as not being to difficult.
Relay: “Easy” Gold for Switzerland
Big favourite Switzerland won the gold medal in the mixed sprint relay with more than 4 minutes – but the race was more exciting than the final results table shows. Several teams were disqualified – the Norwegian team which finished around a minute behind Switzerland (after having mispunched on an earlier leg) and Czech Republic and Great Britain who were fighting for medals before their were disqualified. Also the strong Swedish team did not have a full team due to Tove Alexandersson being ill.
– Thanks to the lead given to me by Matthias (Kyburz), I could take my time. I therefore ran secure – and invested a lot of time – sometimes 20 seconds – to avoid making technical errors, Switzerland’s last leg runner Judith Wyder commented to Swiss-Orienteering.ch.
Maps
- Sprint: Women – Men
- Middle: Women, partA and B – Men, part A and B
- Mixed sprint relay: Women AC,Women AD, Women BC, Women BD, Men AC, Men AD, Men BC,Men BD
See also links to GPS-tracking from each event at the World Games orienteering webpage.
Results Sprint
Women
| 1 | 15:57,7 |
| 2 | 16:07,5 |
| 3 | 16:34,7 |
| 4 | 16:36,7 |
| 5 | 16:37,2 |
| 6 | 16:49,5 |
| 7 | 16:51,6 |
| 8 | 16:59,7 |
| 9 | 17:11,3 |
| 10 | 17:13,6 |
Men
| 1 | 14:30,8 |
| 2 | 14:42,9 |
| 3 | 14:46,6 |
| 4 | 14:47,2 |
| 5 | 14:48,8 |
| 6 | 14:50,5 |
| 7 | 14:53,9 |
| 8 | 14:58,1 |
| 9 | 15:03,6 |
| 10 | 15:05,5 |
Results Middle
Women
| 1 | 32:59,1 |
| 2 | 33:43,5 |
| 3 | 34:13,4 |
| 4 | 34:16,7 |
| 5 | 35:00,7 |
| 6 | 35:22,2 |
| 7 | 35:30,9 |
| 8 | 35:52,4 |
| 9 | 35:58,4 |
| 10 | 36:02,9 |
Men
| 1 | 34:04,5 |
| 2 | 35:42,1 |
| 3 | 35:42,5 |
| 4 | 35:45,0 |
| 5 | 35:50,9 |
| 6 | 35:54,9 |
| 7 | 36:00,2 |
| 8 | 36:06,8 |
| 9 | 36:33,7 |
| 10 | 36:35,6 |
Results Mixed sprint relay
| 1 | 5 | 1:16:30,0 |
| 19:40,0 |
| 19:35,9 |
| 18:05,2 |
| 19:08,9 |
| 2 | 3 | 1:20:50,4 |
| 20:14,0 |
| 21:46,9 |
| 18:58,2 |
| 19:51,3 |
| 3 | 10 | 1:22:03,7 |
| 19:15,2 |
| 21:36,3 |
| 19:43,5 |
| 21:28,7 |
| 4 | 14 | 1:24:31,1 |
| 19:38,0 |
| 22:20,3 |
| 20:14,3 |
| 22:18,5 |
| 5 | 8 | 1:25:09,0 |
| 20:46,0 |
| 23:40,3 |
| 19:06,8 |
| 21:35,9 |
| 6 | 4 | 1:25:18,6 |
| 21:47,0 |
| 23:27,5 |
| 19:52,8 |
| 20:11,3 |
