World of O News
Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) won the women’s class and Jannis Bonek (Austria) won the men’s class in today’s World Cup Middle distance in very interesting sandstone terrain in Korce, Czechia. Simona Aebersold (Switzerland) and Sanna Fast (Sweden) took the second and third place in the women’s class, while Albin Ridefelt (Sweden) and Matthias Kyburz (Switzerland) finished off the podium in the men’s class.
The courses required high concentration from start to finish, with many controls where you had to choose between climbing up and running at the flat areas above the sandstones, running in the slopes below the sandstones (often on small, unmarked animal paths) or trying to find a good way in the middle.
Update: Full GPS-analysis of the race is available here.
Women: Alexandersson’s speed decided
Alexandersson took a non-optimal routechoice on the control to the second control, but with highest speed and good orienteering from there she opened a big gap to her competitors. Even a 40 second mistake towards the end at control 16 did not endanger her clear victory. Aebersold did some smaller mistakes early, but managed to secure a second place with her high running speed. Fast did a good technical race, and managed to barely beat her teammate Sara Hagström due to better technical performance.
Below you see the second leg where Alexandersson lost time by choosing the middle variant. Analysis of the race will be available later tonight when split times are available – the GPS is not accurate enough in this terrain to provide relevant analysis without the official split times.
Men: First World Cup victory for Bonek
Jannis Bonek run a very good technical race from start to finish – managing to solve the course setters riddles all the way while avoiding mistakes on the controls. Kyburz, Ridefelt, Kasper Fosser (Norway, 4th) and Lucas Basset (France, 5th) were close to Bonek in the first part of the course, but they all made mistakes which allowed Jannis to get a gap. Ridefelt, Kyburz and Basset all lost time on the short legs between control 4 and 6, while Fosser lost more than a minute on the 8th control. Ridefelt, Kyburz and Fosser had somewhat higher speed than Bonek in the last part of the course, but Bonek’s lead was large enough to allow the Austrian to get his first World Cup victory – after entering the absolute world orienteering elite after his surprising bronze medal at the World Orienteering Championships in Switzerland a couple of weeks ago.
Below one of the interesting longer routechoice legs in the men’s course is shown. Here it may be tempting to go all the way down to the path, but keeping in the slope or running up where the fastest alternatives.
Maps and GPS-tracking
Map women loop 1
Map women loop 2
Map men loop 1
Map men loop 2
Results
Women
| 1 | Tove Alexandersson | Sweden | 34:19 | 8:06 | |
| 2 | Simona Aebersold | Switzerland | 35:26 | +1:07 | 8:22 |
| 3 | Sanna Fast | Sweden | 35:50 | +1:31 | 8:28 |
| 4 | Sara Hagstrom | Sweden | 35:52 | +1:33 | 8:28 |
| 5 | Marie Olaussen | Norge | 37:42 | +3:23 | 8:54 |
| 6 | Tereza Janosikova | Czechia | 37:51 | +3:32 | 8:56 |
| 7 | Lisa Risby | Sweden | 38:04 | +3:45 | 8:59 |
| 8 | Venla Harju | Finland | 38:19 | +4:00 | 9:03 |
| 9 | Elin Mansson | Sweden | 38:42 | +4:23 | 9:08 |
| 10 | Andrine Benjaminsen | Norge | 38:45 | +4:26 | 9:09 |
| 11 | Johanna Ridefelt | Sweden | 38:57 | +4:38 | 9:12 |
| 12 | Andrea Svensson | Sweden | 39:23 | +5:04 | 9:18 |
| 13 | Denisa Kosova | Czechia | 39:33 | +5:14 | 9:20 |
| 14 | Elena Roos | Switzerland | 39:42 | +5:23 | 9:23 |
| 15 | Sabine Hauswirth | Switzerland | 39:55 | +5:36 | 9:26 |
| 16 | Natalia Gemperle | Switzerland | 40:10 | +5:51 | 9:29 |
| 17 | Marika Teini | Finland | 40:22 | +6:03 | 9:32 |
| 18 | Miri Thrane Oedum | Denmark | 40:28 | +6:09 | 9:33 |
| 18 | Vendula Horcickova | Czechia | 40:28 | +6:09 | 9:33 |
| 20 | Hanna Wisniewska | Poland | 40:34 | +6:15 | 9:35 |
Men
| 1 | Jannis Bonek | Austria | 37:04 | 7:12 | |
| 2 | Albin Ridefelt | Sweden | 37:41 | +0:37 | 7:19 |
| 3 | Matthias Kyburz | Switzerland | 37:47 | +0:43 | 7:21 |
| 4 | Kasper Harlem Fosser | Norway | 37:52 | +0:48 | 7:22 |
| 5 | Lucas Basset | France | 38:18 | +1:14 | 7:27 |
| 6 | Olli Ojanaho | Finland | 38:29 | +1:25 | 7:29 |
| 7 | Joey Hadorn | Switzerland | 38:36 | +1:32 | 7:30 |
| 8 | Topi Syrjalainen | Finland | 38:55 | +1:51 | 7:34 |
| 9 | Gustav Bergman | Sweden | 39:14 | +2:10 | 7:37 |
| 10 | Daniel Hubmann | Switzerland | 39:17 | +2:13 | 7:38 |
| 11 | Reto Egger | Switzerland | 39:32 | +2:28 | 7:41 |
| 12 | Martin Regborn | Sweden | 39:49 | +2:45 | 7:44 |
| 13 | Martin Hubmann | Switzerland | 39:57 | +2:53 | 7:46 |
| 14 | Florian Howald | Switzerland | 39:59 | +2:55 | 7:46 |
| 15 | Quentin Andrieux | France | 40:17 | +3:13 | 7:50 |
| 16 | Milos Nykodym | Czechia | 40:20 | +3:16 | 7:50 |
| 17 | Viktor Svensk | Sweden | 40:31 | +3:27 | 7:52 |
| 18 | Ruslan Glibov | Ukraine | 40:48 | +3:44 | 7:56 |
| 19 | Simon Hector | Sweden | 41:03 | +3:59 | 7:59 |
| 20 | Ralph Street | Great Britain | 41:06 | +4:02 | 7:59 |
| 20 | Anton Johansson | Sweden | 41:06 | +4:02 | 7:59 |
