World of O News
[Including GPS-analysis] Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) and Yannick Michiels (Belgium) won the World Cup Sprint in Switzerland on Sunday. This was Michiels second World Cup victory – and Alexandersson’s 7th in this season alone. With this Alexandersson decided the overall World Cup already before the last World Cup round in China. Michiels on the other hand got a good confirmation before moving on to more sprint orienteering in China.
Alexandersson won 16 seconds ahead of Elena Roos (Switzerland) with Simona Aebersold (Switzerland) in 3rd at 0:43. Michiels had a 2 second gap down to Kristian Jones (Great Britain) with Matthias Kyburz (Switzerland) in 3rd at 0:14.
Men: Routechoice decided for Michiels
Kris Jones had the highest speed, but a routechoice miss to control 15 made the fast British runner lose 10-12 seconds and the victory (see map below). Joey Hadorn (Switzerland) lost even more time on the leg by taking an even worse routechoice, probably costing him the place on the podium. See further down for a GPS-analysis of some of the key legs.
Men’s course: A quick look at the most interesting legs
Leg 5-6
A left/right routechoice which proved difficult for many, including some of the favourites like Daniel Hubmann, Vojtech Kral and Tim Robertson. Going left loses you 5-6 seconds here, although it is not directly clear from the map why with less than 10 meters length difference. Probably because the narrow passage and the extra corners takes you some extra time.
Leg 6-7
Again left/right – and again 5-6 seconds lost and several top names losing time.
Leg 8-9
A more complex and longer leg – defining for the competition with the top 4 in total taking the top 4 places on the leg (although in different order). A bit tricky to see that left is so much slower, but several do this mistake.
Leg 11-12
Not too many doing this miss, but loses you quite some time.
Leg 12-13
Not easy to see at first glance that left is so much slower than right – nice leg…
Leg 14-15
Again a long routechoice leg, and some top runners being tricked into the wrong routechoice; notably Hadorn, Tranchand, Robertson and Lundanes among others.
Leg 19-20
Another one like the early left/right legs – again some 4-5 seconds time difference with a very similar geometry of the routes.
Women: Alexandersson again
Alexandersson did not have a perfect race, losing some time on some of the routechoice legs, but her speed was enough to take another clear victory. Note how several of the top runners lost significant time on routechoices. Also note Jaosikova’s wrong routechoice to control 13 which cost her 18 seconds and another safe place on the podium.
Women’s course: A quick look at the most interesting legs
Overall World Cup
While the overall World Cup is decided in the women’s class, there may still be excitement in the men’s class. Gustav Bergman is in the lead 29 points ahead of Olav Lundanes. Lundanes will not run the races in China though, so Bergman’s actual lead is as much as 103 points to Daniel Hubmann in third. But with one Sprint and one runnable Middle waiting on China, Bergman has to run good races in order to break the Swiss dominance in the overall World Cup of the latest years.
The World Cup will be decided in China October 26th – 29th.
Maps and GPS-tracking
World Cup 2019, Sprint Men
» See map in omaps.worldofo.com
World Cup 2019, Sprint Women
» See map in omaps.worldofo.com
Results
Men
| 1. | Yannick Michiels | Belgium | 13:29 | (+0:00) |
| 2. | Kristian Jones | Great Britain | 13:31 | (+0:02) |
| 3. | Matthias Kyburz | Switzerland | 13:43 | (+0:14) |
| 4. | Vojtech Kral | Czech Republic | 13:57 | (+0:28) |
| 5. | Joey Hadorn | Switzerland | 14:03 | (+0:34) |
| 5. | Daniel Hubmann | Switzerland | 14:03 | (+0:34) |
| 7. | Kasper Fosser | Norway | 14:05 | (+0:36) |
| 8. | Lucas Basset | France | 14:06 | (+0:37) |
| 9. | Andreas Kyburz | Switzerland | 14:17 | (+0:48) |
| 9. | Christoph Meier | Switzerland | 14:17 | (+0:48) |
| 9. | Martin Regborn | Sweden | 14:17 | (+0:48) |
| 12. | Peter Hodkinson | Great Britain | 14:20 | (+0:51) |
| 13. | Riccardo Scalet | Italy | 14:23 | (+0:54) |
| 13. | Ralph Street | Great Britain | 14:23 | (+0:54) |
| 15. | Tobia Pezzati | Switzerland | 14:24 | (+0:55) |
| 16. | Ruslan Glibov | Ukraine | 14:26 | (+0:57) |
| 17. | Jonas Egger | Switzerland | 14:27 | (+0:58) |
| 18. | Olav Lundanes | Norway | 14:31 | (+1:02) |
| 19. | Gaute Hallan Steiwer | Norway | 14:32 | (+1:03) |
| 19. | Florian Howald | Switzerland | 14:32 | (+1:03) |
Women
| 1. | Tove Alexandersson | Sweden | 14:18 | (+0:00) |
| 2. | Elena Roos | Switzerland | 14:34 | (+0:16) |
| 3. | Simona Aebersold | Switzerland | 15:01 | (+0:43) |
| 4. | Natalia Gemperle | Russian Federation | 15:03 | (+0:45) |
| 5. | Sabine Hauswirth | Switzerland | 15:04 | (+0:46) |
| 6. | Merja Rantanen | Finland | 15:05 | (+0:47) |
| 7. | Tereza Janosikova | Czech Republic | 15:07 | (+0:49) |
| 8. | Venla Harju | Finland | 15:10 | (+0:52) |
| 9. | Megan Carter Davies | Great Britain | 15:11 | (+0:53) |
| 10. | Paula Gross | Switzerland | 15:14 | (+0:56) |
| 11. | Silje Ekroll Jahren | Norway | 15:18 | (+1:00) |
| 12. | Alice Leake | Great Britain | 15:20 | (+1:02) |
| 13. | Maija Sianoja | Finland | 15:21 | (+1:03) |
| 14. | Sara Hagstrom | Sweden | 15:29 | (+1:11) |
| 15. | Lilian Forsgren | Sweden | 15:30 | (+1:12) |
| 16. | Victoria Haestad Bjornstad | Norway | 15:38 | (+1:20) |
| 17. | Denisa Kosova | Czech Republic | 15:39 | (+1:21) |
| 17. | Laura Ramstein | Austria | 15:39 | (+1:21) |
| 19. | Andrine Benjaminsen | Norway | 15:43 | (+1:25) |
| 20. | Svetlana Mironova | Russian Federation | 15:45 | (+1:27) |
