World Cup Kongsberg & Imatra: All You Need to Know!

[Updated for Imatra] Middle and Long distance races in Norwegian wilderness around Kongsberg (June 7th-8th) and a sprint race and a mixed sprint relay in Imatra, Finland (June 11th-12th) as a “warm-up event” to Jukola. This is what the third round of the 2014 Orienteering World Cup offers.

The races in Norway will offer excellent live services – GPS-tracking, live webTV, speaker sound and live results. The 25 last starters will carry GPS tracking devices in both classes on both days. This article will be updated with live services of the Finland races when information is available [Update June 10th 21:00 CET – still waiting for info for live services for Imatra].

• Live center Norway World Cup (see also main webpage of the World Cup in Norway)
• Website Finland World Cup and TV table YLE for the Imatra World Cup

Imatra sprint information:

• Startlist qualification – start from 09:01 CET
• There is only one heat in the qualification – the top 40 athletes for men/women go to the finals
• Live services:
  • Online results, Live stream, GPS-tracking (final only)
• See also the organizer’s Twitter account
• YLE Live broadcasts are available worldwide.
• Women: http://arenan.yle.fi/tv/2296718/#/play
• Men: http://arenan.yle.fi/tv/2296719/#/play
• Relay: http://arenan.yle.fi/tv/2296720
• Most likely replays will be available outside Finland too later http://arenan.yle.fi/tv/1630239

Program

• Saturday June 7th: World Cup middle, Kongsberg, Norway (from 12:00 CET). 4.6/5.9 km courses.
• Sunday June 8th: World Cup long, Kongsberg, Norway (from 09:30 CET). 8.9 / 14.0 km courses.
• Wednesday June 11th, World Cup sprint, Imatra, Finland (Q: 09:00 CET. F: 16:00 CET)
• Thursday June 12th, World Cup mixed sprint relay (unofficial), Imatra, Finland (14:15 CET)

See also Bulletin 4 for the Norway World Cup.

Participation

8 of the 10 top ranked runners in the world will be present in the Norway weekend

Unfortunately many nations have decided to skip this World Cup round – or just send a small team – but the biggest orienteering nations will be well represented. In the men’s class 8 of the 10 top ranked runners in the world will be present in the Norway weekend (according to the World Ranking; see list of runners starting here) – but only 14 of the Top 30 ranked runners. Top favourites will be Olav Lundanes, Gustav Bergman and World Cup leader Daniel Hubmann – but many others are also in the fight for the victories.

In the women’s class only 4 of the 10 top ranked runners will be present – but 18 of the Top 30 ranked runners will be present. Top favourites will be Minna Kauppi, Helena Jansson and Ida Bobach [Update: And of course Tove Alexandersson. Thanks, Sven].

Teams sending many athletes to the Norway races are all the Nordic countries, Switzerland, Russia and Great Britain. Note that the Queen of EOC – Judith Wyder – third placed in the overall World Cup – will not be running the races in Norway as she is not focusing on the overall World Cup in 2014. The overall World Cup ahead of the World Cup races in Norway is shown below.