WOC 2021 Middle: Maps, Results and Splits analysis

Matthias Kyburz (Switzerland) and Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) took the victories in the World Orienteering Championships (WOC) Middle distance in Czech Republic today.

Silver and bronze went to Gustav Bergman (Sweden) and Ruslan Glibov (Ukraine) in the men’s class and Andrine Benjaminsen (Norway) and Simona Aebersold (Switzerland) in the women’s class.

Men: Tight battle until the finish

In the men’s class Kyburz won a tight battle against Bergman, Glibov, Lucas Basset (France) and Kasper Fosser (Norway). Towards the end of the course Kyburz managed to keep higher speed than the others without mistakes, and finished 40 seconds ahead of Bergman and another 7 seconds ahead of Glibov. Basset and Fosser finished 4th and 5th after quite large mistakes towards the end of the course. See how the race unfolded in the video below.

GPS Animation #WOC2021 Middle Men: See how Matthias Kyburz 🇨🇭 decided the race ahead of Bergman 🇸🇪, Glibov 🇺🇦, Basset 🇫🇷, Fosser 🇳🇴 pic.twitter.com/DRDaCpa3uL

— WorldofO.com (@worldofo) July 6, 2021

The below splitsbrowser shows the race development for Top 5. Except for a few controls in the start and briefly at control 16, Kyburz is in the lead all the race. Glibov is briefly in the lead at control 14 after a very strong long leg to control 13 (where he runs around to the left on the path), but then loses time on the next long leg (by running too high, getting stuck in the green). From the splitsbrowser Bergman’s two excellent long legs are also clearly seen – this is were he goes from being 80 seconds behind and up into the lead. Fosser was on the way into the medal battle on the second long leg which he executed very well – but the big mistake at control 17 took him out of the medal battle – and after that his speed was not the same anymore.

Here is also a comparison including all runners in Top 10. None of the other runners were really close to the medals – this course clearly required consistent orienteering from start to finish to perform well.

The below GPS “autOanalysis” illustrates the battle for gold between Kyburz and Bergman. Note how Bergman keeps Kyburz’s speed in the start, but then starts losing time between control 4 and 5. From here Bergman steadily loses time until control 12, the largest time loss being around control 7 (around 30 second mistake on the control). At control 12 Bergman is nearly 80 seconds down. Bergman closes most of this gap on the two long legs to control 13 and control 15, but then Kyburz is again stronger from control 16 to the finish, gradually increasing the gap.

Women: Alexandersson way ahead again

In the women’s class Tove Alexandersson made it interesting for the viewers through a mistake in the early part of the race, but in the end Alexandersson was again in another league than her competitors and won with more than 2 minutes. All the women in the top of the results made mistakes in this tricky terrain.

GPS animation of battle for the medals at #WOC2021 Middle: Tove Alexandersson 🇸🇪 wins ahead of Andrine Benjaminsen 🇳🇴 with Simona Aebersold 🇨🇭 in third. Misses are highlighted #2Drerun pic.twitter.com/izWNJ6b8qf

— WorldofO.com (@worldofo) July 6, 2021

The below splitsbrowser shows the development within Top 5. One can clearly see how Alexandersson starts quite carefully, then makes her big mistake at control 4 – and from then on she has a different speed until control 13. In the end of the course several of the other runners manage to keep Alexandersson’s speed – probably because Alexandersson heard about her big lead and could focus on safe orienteering. Kamilla Steiwer is in a nearly 50 second lead at control 9 – but loses time on nearly every leg from there and to the finish.

Here is also a splitsbrowser illustration for top 10:

Below is an autOanalysis GPS-comparison between Alexandersson and Benjaminsen. From the illustration one can note that Alexandersson has higher speed in the start, but then makes a mistake of around 1:40 at control 4 – which is followed by a 50 second mistake at control 5 by Benjaminsen. From here to the finish Alexandersson clearly has higher speed than Benjaminsen, and in addition Benjaminsen does some small mistakes around control 11 and 13.

Maps and GPS-tracking

See maps and GPS-tracking below.

WOC 2021 Middle Final Men

» See map in omaps.worldofo.com

WOC 2021 Middle F Women

» See map in omaps.worldofo.com

Results

Men

1	Matthias Kyburz	Swizerland	39:31
2	Gustav Bergman	Sweden	40:11	+0:40
3	Ruslan Glibov	Ukraine	40:18	+0:47
4	Lucas Basset	France	41:36	+2:05
5	Kasper Harlem Fosser	Norway	41:38	+2:07
6	Eskil Kinneberg	Norway	41:40	+2:09
7	Miika Kirmula	Finland	41:59	+2:28
8	Daniel Hubmann	Swizerland	42:08	+2:37
9	Oleksandr Kratov	Ukraine	42:42	+3:11
10	Emil Svensk	Sweden	43:02	+3:31
11	Timo Sild	Estonia	43:42	+4:11
12	Albin Ridefelt	Sweden	43:51	+4:20
13	Gernot Ymsen	Austria	44:19	+4:48
14	Pavel Kubat	Czech Republic	44:40	+5:09
15	Leonid Novikov	Neutral	45:34	+6:03
16	Noah Zbinden	Swizerland	46:26	+6:55
17	Konstantin Serebryanitskiy	Neutral	46:38	+7:07
18	Nicolas Rio	France	47:13	+7:42
19	Mathias Peter	Austria	47:43	+8:12
20	Jannis Bonek	Austria	48:31	+9:00

Women

1	Tove Alexandersson	Sweden	38:12
2	Andrine Benjaminsen	Norway	40:33	+2:21
3	Simona Aebersold	Swizerland	41:33	+3:21
4	Kamilla Steiwer	Norway	41:35	+3:23
5	Sara Hagstrom	Sweden	41:46	+3:34
6	Lisa Risby	Sweden	42:10	+3:58
7	Isia Basset	France	43:40	+5:28
8	Denisa Kosova	Czech Republic	43:42	+5:30
9	Adela Indrakova	Czech Republic	43:50	+5:38
10	Natalia Gemperle	Neutral	44:24	+6:12
11	Marie Olaussen	Norway	44:37	+6:25
12	Johanna Oberg	Sweden	44:45	+6:33
13	Line Cederberg	Denmark	45:56	+7:44
14	Amy Nymalm	Finland	46:01	+7:49
15	Venla Harju	Finland	46:18	+8:06
16	Cecile Calandry	France	46:33	+8:21
17	Evely Kaasiku	Estonia	46:55	+8:43
17	Sabine Hauswirth	Swizerland	46:55	+8:43
19	Marika Teini	Finland	47:13	+9:01
20	Susen Loesch	Germany	47:32	+9:20

• Full results available here