World of O News
Sweden and Switzerland dominated the first World Cup weekend of 2024 in Olten, Switzerland – taking two victories each – but with four different winners. Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) and Joey Hadorn (Switzerland) took the victories on the KO-Sprint while Natalia Gemperle (Switzerland) and Emil Svensk (Sweden) took the victories on Sunday’s individual sprint.
While the KO-Sprint courses were relatively easy – making running speed and between-athlete tactics key for good performance, the individual sprint offered many interesting routechoices which separated the athletes.
Race development individual sprint
See below for race development in the men’s and women’s individual sprint.
Race development KO-Sprint Final
Maps and GPS-tracking
GPS-tracking:
- KO-Sprint: Men Final – Women Final
- Individual Sprint: Men – Women
See also the maps with courses below. Note that the men and the women ran the same courses in the KO-Sprint.
Results
KO-Sprint Men (Final)
| 1 | Joey Hadorn | 7:08 | 3:06 | |||
| 2 | Jonatan Gustafsson | 7:09 | 3:06 | |||
| 3 | Tuomas Heikkila | 7:10 | +0:01 | 3:06 | ||
| 4 | Martin Regborn | 7:12 | +0:03 | 3:07 | ||
| 5 | Timo Suter | 7:20 | +0:11 | 3:11 | ||
| 6 | Teemu Oksanen | 7:24 | +0:15 | 3:13 |
KO-Sprint Women (Final)
| 1 | Tove Alexandersson | 7:56 | 3:26 | |||
| 2 | Simona Aebersold | 7:57 | 3:27 | |||
| 3 | Natalia Gemperle | 8:00 | +0:03 | 3:28 | ||
| 4 | Victoria Haestad Bjornstad | 8:13 | +0:16 | 3:34 | ||
| 5 | Ida Agervig Kristiansson | 8:16 | +0:19 | 3:35 | ||
| 6 | Andrine Benjaminsen | 8:20 | +0:23 | 3:37 |
Individual Sprint Men
| 1 | Emil Svensk | 14:12 | 3:33 | ||
| 2 | Tuomas Heikkila | 14:13 | +0:01 | 3:33 | |
| 3 | Martin Regborn | 14:16 | +0:04 | 3:34 | |
| 4 | Jonatan Gustafsson | 14:21 | +0:09 | 3:35 | |
| 5 | Yannick Michiels | 14:26 | +0:14 | 3:36 | |
| 6 | Eirik Langedal Breivik | 14:34 | +0:22 | 3:38 | |
| 6 | Gustav Runefors | 14:34 | +0:22 | 3:38 | |
| 8 | Isac von Krusenstierna | 14:35 | +0:23 | 3:38 | |
| 9 | Akseli Ruohola | 14:37 | +0:25 | 3:39 | |
| 10 | Tomas Krivda | 14:41 | +0:29 | 3:40 | |
| 11 | Francesco Mariani | 14:42 | +0:30 | 3:40 | |
| 11 | Tino Polsini | 14:42 | +0:30 | 3:40 | |
| 13 | Daniel Hubmann | 14:43 | +0:31 | 3:40 | |
| 14 | Adrien Delenne | 14:44 | +0:32 | 3:41 | |
| 15 | August Mollen | 14:45 | +0:33 | 3:41 | |
| 16 | Ralph Street | 14:46 | +0:34 | 3:41 | |
| 17 | Timo Suter | 14:49 | +0:37 | 3:42 | |
| 18 | Max Peter Bejmer | 14:50 | +0:38 | 3:42 | |
| 19 | Henry McNulty | 14:53 | +0:41 | 3:43 | |
| 20 | Fabian Aebersold | 14:55 | +0:43 | 3:43 | |
| 20 | Martin Hubmann | 14:55 | +0:43 | 3:43 | |
| 20 | Guilhem Verove | 14:55 | +0:43 | 3:43 |
Individual Sprint Women
| 1 | Natalia Gemperle | 14:15 | 4:11 | ||
| 2 | Simona Aebersold | 14:27 | +0:12 | 4:15 | |
| 3 | Tereza Janosikova | 14:42 | +0:27 | 4:19 | |
| 4 | Aleksandra Hornik | 14:43 | +0:28 | 4:19 | |
| 5 | Hanna Lundberg | 14:45 | +0:30 | 4:20 | |
| 6 | Cecile Calandry | 14:51 | +0:36 | 4:22 | |
| 7 | Tove Alexandersson | 14:52 | +0:37 | 4:22 | |
| 8 | Andrine Benjaminsen | 15:01 | +0:46 | 4:25 | |
| 9 | Alva Sonesson | 15:05 | +0:50 | 4:26 | |
| 10 | Hedvig Valbjorn Gydesen | 15:15 | +1:00 | 4:29 | |
| 11 | Ida Agervig Kristiansson | 15:17 | +1:02 | 4:29 | |
| 11 | Tilda Johansson | 15:17 | +1:02 | 4:29 | |
| 13 | Karolin Ohlsson | 15:19 | +1:04 | 4:30 | |
| 14 | Grace Molloy | 15:21 | +1:06 | 4:30 | |
| 15 | Deborah Stadler | 15:22 | +1:07 | 4:31 | |
| 16 | Ana Isabel Toledo | 15:23 | +1:08 | 4:31 | |
| 17 | Vilma von Krusenstierna | 15:26 | +1:11 | 4:32 | |
| 17 | Marie Olaussen | 15:26 | +1:11 | 4:32 | |
| 17 | Josefin Tjernlund | 15:26 | +1:11 | 4:32 | |
| 20 | Martina Ruch | 15:27 | +1:12 | 4:32 | |
| 20 | Frida Vikstrom | 15:27 | +1:12 | 4:32 |
Full results:
One may argue that Men’s KO Sprint qualification course planning was not executed to the highest standard. Two controls on straight or virtually straight line right after the map flip for all of the heats.
I remember how inspectors (almost entirely Swiss by the way) during 2018 World Championships in Riga went out of their skin to not allow straight-line controls during a sprint competition.
What has changed since then?
What are the rules, or the directives on this topic? Are two controls in a straight line supposed to be avoided, or is that just an opinion among some?
Andy,
I am fairly certain that rules do not prohibit straight-line controls, while precedent and best practice DO’s and DONT’s for course planners certainly suggests to avoid such set-up. It is one thing to fall for course planner’s traps where route choice is important. It is different if course setter’s intentional or may be even unintentional “trap” is a mere instance of eyesight in an area with dense detail and map-flip for that matter. I would even understand if straight-line instance was in the middle of a section… but right after the map flip… not good. And precedent in high level IOF races suggests that Inspector should have picked this up.