JWOC Sprint brought a surprise win for Germany’s Colin Kolbe in the men’s class and a favourite win by Simona Aebersold (Switzerland) in the women’s class.
Kolbe took Germany’s first victory in the Junior World Orienteering championships in 27 years – on a course which was described as very technical with many tricky routechoices and several artificial boundaries/fences to make the orienteering more interesting and tricky. Kolbe won 8 seconds ahead of Matthew Fellbaum (GBR) with Kasper Fosser (NOR) and Otto Kaario (FIN) in shared third place. See GPS-analysis of the men’s race below the map section.
In the women’s class Simona Aebersold was the big favourite. The Swiss took the lead already at the first control, and kept it all the way to the finish. Even with a rather big mistake she managed to have a winning margin of nearly half a minute down to Czech Tereza Janosikova in second with another half minute down to Hungary’s Csilla Gardonyi – a popular bronze medal for the organizing federation.
Tight battle in the men’s class
The fight for victory was close; Matthew Fellbaum (lost 10 seconds at leg 5, finished 8 seconds behind in 2nd), Otto Kaario (lost 11 seconds at leg 5, finished 9 seconds behind in 3rd), Kasper Fosser (lost 23 seconds at leg 12, finished 9 seconds behind in 3rd), Jesper Svensk (lost 13 seconds at leg 6, finished 12 seconds behind in 5th) and Timo Suter (lost 36 seconds at leg 15, finished 34 seconds behind in 9th) were only one control away from beating Colin Kolbe.
Jannis Bonek took the lead at the first control. The race lead then changed between Tomas Krivda (leading at the 2nd control), Jesper Svensk (leading from the 3rd to 4th control), Colin Kolbe (leading from the 5th to 7th control), Kasper Fosser (leading from the 8th to 11th control, losing 23 seconds and the lead at the 12th), Colin Kolbe (leading from the 12th to 13th control), Otto Kaario (leading at the 14th control, losing 7 seconds at the 15th control and falling down to 4th place), Colin Kolbe (leading at the 15th control) and Jesper Svensk (leading at the 16th control, losing 11 seconds and the lead at the 17th) until Colin Kolbe took over the lead at control 17 of 25 controls and kept it until the finish.
Clear victory in the women’s class
Simona Aebersold was in the lead all the way from the first control to the end of the race and won 10 of 22 legs. Simona Aebersold had an estimated time loss of 30 seconds, the largest being 24 seconds (leg 17). Tereza Janosikova had an estimated time loss of 18 seconds, the largest being 9 seconds (leg 6).No timelosses were found for Csilla Gardonyi based on the performance index.
Maps and GPS-tracking
JWOC 2018 Sprint Men
» See map in omaps.worldofo.com
JWOC 2018 Sprint Women
» See map in omaps.worldofo.com
Quick GPS-analysis men’s race
Below is a quick GPS-based analysis of the decisive legs in the men’s race. The routes of the top 6 finishers on each decisive leg are compared to the three fastest runners on the leg.
Leg 2
Silver medalist Fellbaum loses 10 seconds, but runs the same route as leg winner Aston Key. Imark also loses 11 seconds on a more direct route, but routechoice alone is not the reason for the time loss.
Leg 3
Several runners lose some seconds by running right, including the winner Kolbe.
Leg 5
Fellbaum (silver) and Kaarlo (bronze) lose 10 and 11 seconds, taking the wrong routechoice to the left.
Leg 6
Suter and Svensk take the wrong route to the left and lose 13 and 15 seconds. Kaarlo alsos loses significant time here. Kolbe and Fosser are the only two of the top runners who execute this leg well.
Leg 8
Complex leg where several runners get trouble and lose some 5-10 seconds – including winner Kolbe and Svensk.
Leg 11
Some small time losses for Kaarlo, Imark and Jonsson here.
Leg 12
Big lapse of concentration for Kasper Fosser – this is all that separates Fosser from a clear victory.
Leg 15
Another leg, another top runner with a big lapse of concentration. This time Swiss runner Timo Suter loses 36(!) seconds by a beginner mistake.
Leg 16
Simple leg – still several runners take non-optimal route and lose time.
Leg 17
Svensk and Imark take wrong routes and lose 9/13 seconds.
Results
Men
1 | Colin Kolbe | GER Germany | 15:48 | 3:52 | |
2 | Matthew Fellbaum | GBR Great Britain | 15:56 | +0:08 | 3:54 |
3 | Kasper Fosser | NOR Norway | 15:57 | +0:09 | 3:55 |
3 | Otto Kaario | FIN Finland | 15:57 | +0:09 | 3:55 |
5 | Jesper Svensk | SWE Sweden | 16:00 | +0:12 | 3:55 |
6 | Simon Imark | SWE Sweden | 16:13 | +0:25 | 3:59 |
7 | Elias Jonsson | NOR Norway | 16:14 | +0:26 | 3:59 |
8 | Tamas Barany | HUN Hungary | 16:20 | +0:32 | 4:00 |
9 | Aston Key | AUS Australia | 16:22 | +0:34 | 4:01 |
9 | Timo Suter | SUI Switzerland | 16:22 | +0:34 | 4:01 |
11 | Reto Egger | SUI Switzerland | 16:23 | +0:35 | 4:01 |
12 | Vit Horcicka | CZE Czech Republic | 16:25 | +0:37 | 4:02 |
13 | Mathieu Perrin | FRA France | 16:30 | +0:42 | 4:03 |
14 | Axel Granqvist | SWE Sweden | 16:34 | +0:46 | 4:04 |
15 | Einar Melsom | NOR Norway | 16:35 | +0:47 | 4:04 |
15 | Guilhem Elias | FRA France | 16:35 | +0:47 | 4:04 |
15 | Joseph Lynch | NZL New Zealand | 16:35 | +0:47 | 4:04 |
18 | Eirik Langedal Breivik | NOR Norway | 16:37 | +0:49 | 4:04 |
19 | Vojtech Sykora | CZE Czech Republic | 16:38 | +0:50 | 4:05 |
20 | Tuomas Heikkila | FIN Finland | 16:40 | +0:52 | 4:05 |
20 | Uldis Upitis | LAT Latvia | 16:40 | +0:52 | 4:05 |
Women
1 | Simona Aebersold | SUI Switzerland | 15:35 | 4:15 | |
2 | Tereza Janosikova | CZE Czech Republic | 16:01 | +0:26 | 4:22 |
3 | Csilla Gardonyi | HUN Hungary | 16:37 | +1:02 | 4:32 |
4 | Florence Hanauer | FRA France | 16:40 | +1:05 | 4:33 |
5 | Vilma von Krusenstierna | SWE Sweden | 16:46 | +1:11 | 4:34 |
6 | Emma Waddington | CAN Canada | 16:53 | +1:18 | 4:36 |
7 | Maria Prieto | ESP Spain | 17:03 | +1:28 | 4:39 |
8 | Lea Widmer | SUI Switzerland | 17:07 | +1:32 | 4:40 |
9 | Veera Klemettinen | FIN Finland | 17:15 | +1:40 | 4:42 |
10 | Victoria Haestad Bjornstad | NOR Norway | 17:19 | +1:44 | 4:43 |
11 | Zsofia Sarkozy | HUN Hungary | 17:20 | +1:45 | 4:44 |
12 | Elisa Bertozzi | SUI Switzerland | 17:21 | +1:46 | 4:44 |
12 | Jasmina Gassner | AUT Austria | 17:21 | +1:46 | 4:44 |
14 | Hedvig Valbjorn Gydesen | DEN Denmark | 17:31 | +1:56 | 4:47 |
15 | Fiona Bunn | GBR Great Britain | 17:33 | +1:58 | 4:47 |
16 | Anu Tuomisto | FIN Finland | 17:34 | +1:59 | 4:47 |
17 | Grace Molloy | GBR Great Britain | 17:44 | +2:09 | 4:50 |
17 | Elena Pezzati | SUI Switzerland | 17:44 | +2:09 | 4:50 |
19 | Amy Nymalm | FIN Finland | 17:45 | +2:10 | 4:50 |
20 | Tereza Cechova | CZE Czech Republic | 17:48 | +2:13 | 4:51 |
I think it is worth a comment that Isac von Krusenstierna was in the lead by 30 seconds at control 14 before running to the wrong control…
Thanks for the info, Trond.
Thanks for the analysis, one small typo, you refer to Svensk as “medallist” one place ;)
Thanks, Knut for letting me know – I updated the article now.