World of O News
Two long distance races at Silva League – two victories each for Thierry Gueorgiou (France) and Simone Niggli (Switzerland). The two biggest names in orienteering the last years are still a few steps ahead of their rivals. Both skipped the World Cup opening in New Zealand, but with big parts of the world orienteering elite on the start line in Sweden this weekend they showed that they are still the biggest favourites when it really counts in Finland this July.
- See also GPS analysis Saturday’s race (including some brief illustrations from FinnSpring and Norwegian Cup)
Big Swedish surprise
But mistakes in the control circle took the victory chances away for the Swede
The big surprise this weekend is Fredrik Johansson (Sweden) – with two times second spot behind Gueorgiou. For big parts of the course Johansson was on par – or even faster – than Gueorgiou – but mistakes in the control circle took the victory chances away for the Swede. Johansson was on the Swedish silver medal team at EOC last year – but has taken another step this year.
– I decided to take a step up this year, and have trained a lot more than previous seasons. I also have managed not to get sick, Johansson told after his second place on Saturday.
With another second place on Sunday, Johansson appears as a candidate for the Swedish WOC team – and a medal candidate at WOC.
Quick-analysis of the race between Guergiou and Johansson. The analysis relates to this map with an autOanalyis comparison between Johansson’s and Gueorgiou’s route.
- Johansson’s makes a 50 second mistake on control 2 (wrong direction mistake?) – then pushes hard the next controls after the mistake and has higher speed than Gueorgiou
- Phi-loop: Gueorgiou is better on the short legs in the phi-loop – taking some time on Johansson in the northern part – on the other hand Johansson in tougher on the long leg and goes more straight – taking some time on Gueorgiou. Gueorgiou has been running around a lot all weekend – following the terrain instead of the line in many places – especially being careful about everything remotely green, and following vegetation boundaries and paths wherever possible. It has lost the Frenchman some seconds several places, but overall the strategy seems to have been a winning one. E.g. on the long west-to-east leg on the longest phi-loop Gueorgiou takes more than 20 seconds on Johansson by following the terrain instead of the line.
- 17: Another control-circle mistake for Johansson. 30 seconds lost into the control.
- 21: 20 seconds lost for Gueorgiou out of control 20 by not following the line
- 24: One of the few times Gueorgiou is closer to the line – and it does not pay off. The marshy area has poorer runnability than expected.
Behind Johansson and Gueorgiou, Valentin Novikov (3rd Sunday, 4th Saturday) and Oleksandr Kratov (3rd Saturday) confirm that they aim for the medals this year. Also include the Swedish “Golden 90’s” Gustav Bergman and Johan Runesson – both have had a good spring season so far and finished Top 6 both days. Peter Öberg ran only Sunday – but shows that his shape is close to where it should be – Öberg will again be fighting for the Middle distance medals at WOC this year.
Unstable Swiss performance
But next weekend at 10Mila that can already be changed – their physical shape (especially for Kyburz) seems to be good
Absent from the top of the results list are the Swiss runners. Brilliant in parts of the course – exceptional big mistakes in other parts of the course. Daniel Hubmann (several big mistakes), Matthias Kyburz and Matthias Merz have not got their orienteering fine tuned for Nordic terrain yet. But next weekend at 10Mila that can already be changed – their physical shape (especially for Kyburz) seems to be good.
The two Norwegians on the start – Olav Lundanes and Magne Dæhlie – did also not manage to impress this weekend. Note that the rest of the Norwegian’s have been busy with important national races in Norway where Emil Wingstedt(!) won the long distance chasing start ahead of Hans Gunnar Omdal and Bjørn Ekeberg. Anders Nordberg and Carl Waaler Kaas among others got disqualified already in Saturday’s middle distance race. The Finnish runners have been busy with FinnSpring – Saturdays’s individual long distance race being won by Topi Anjala. Finnish World Champion long distance from 2006 instead run the Silva League races in Sweden, finishing 18th and 12th.
Niggli versus Alexandersson
Sunday the Swiss runners winning margin was down to half a minute – with the Swedish World Cup leader Tove Alexandersson in second spot
In the women’s class, Simone Niggli wins with more than 2:30 on Saturday, but as written in the analysis of Saturday’s race, Niggli is not as much faster as her opponents as she is used to. Sunday the Swiss runners winning margin was down to half a minute – with the Swedish World Cup leader Tove Alexandersson in second spot. These two where in their own class on Sunday – with more than three minutes from Niggli down to Riabkina in third – we will surely see more fights between the Swiss veteran and the young Swede this year. Riabkina has had a good weekend with two third places – but as Saturday’s analysis showed, her speed is not high enough yet while her orienteering is top notch.
Helena Jansson on the other hand seems to be in good shape. She did not start Sunday, but on Saturday she finished 2nd, and showed that she has the capacity to beat Niggli. Lena Eliasson is also fast – but unstable. Still, her speed has given her two results in the Top 5 this weekend. Also two times Top 5 for Eva Jurenikova – the new Halden coach still needs a little bit of speed and stability for the Top 3 – but the individual WOC medal hope for Vuokatti is still alive.
Quick-analysis of the race between Niggli and Alexandersson. The analysis relates to this map with an autOanalyis comparison between Alexandersson’s and Niggli’s route.
- Niggli has higher speed in the first part of the course (until the phi-loop), and in addition Alexandersson looses some extra time in a green area on the way to 4. Arriving at control 5, Niggli is already 1 minute ahead.
- In the phi-loop, Alexandersson manages to speed up to be on-par with Niggli. Some small mistakes for both – but this is where the rest of the field is put behind. Note how the phi-loops / butterflies often seem to be decisive in the long distance races ; the ones who manage to change to “middle-distance technique” in this part of the course are often the ones fighting for the medals in the end.
- 15: Alexandersson runs a fantastic long leg by being much closer to the line than Niggli – taking nearly all of Niggli’s advantage on this leg alone. Very interesting to note on this leg: Except for Niggli, Alexandersson and third placed Riabkina, all other GPS-tracked women go left of the lake this leg! Alexandersson is fastest on the leg.
- 15-17: Alexandersson continues going strong – helped by some small technical struggles by Niggli. At 17 Alexandersson is only 2 seconds behind.
- 17-18: Niggli finds a good micro-routechoice (not going over the top of the small hills, keeping low towards the marsh), gaining some time again.
- 18-finish: Alexandersson looses some time into 20 – except for that status quo.
Looking to Finland, Minna Kauppi had good speed in Saturday’s individual FinnSpring long distance – and would probably have been up there fighting with Niggli and the others if present in Sweden. In Norway Mari Fasting won a clear victory in the chasing start – Fasting seems the be the strongest Norwegian hope. Anne Margrethe Hausken is injured and will not start at 10Mila, but says that this is no problem with respect to the World Championships in July.
Results Sunday
| 1 | Thierry Gueorgiou | 1:12:41 | 5:18 | |||
| 2 | Fredrik Johansson | 1:14:01 | +1:20 | 5:24 | ||
| 3 | Valentin Novikov | 1:15:43 | +3:02 | 5:32 | ||
| 4 | Johan Runesson | 1:16:10 | +3:29 | 5:34 | ||
| 5 | Gustav Bergman | 1:16:30 | +3:49 | 5:35 | ||
| 6 | Peter Öberg | 1:16:35 | +3:54 | 5:35 | ||
| 7 | Anders Holmberg | 1:17:37 | +4:56 | 5:40 | ||
| 8 | Filip Dahlgren | 1:18:09 | +5:28 | 5:42 | ||
| 9 | Olle Boström | 1:18:56 | +6:15 | 5:46 | ||
| 10 | Oskar Sjöberg | 1:19:10 | +6:29 | 5:47 | ||
| 11 | Erik Rost | 1:19:30 | +6:49 | 5:48 | ||
| 12 | Kiril Nikolov | 1:19:40 | +6:59 | 5:49 | ||
| 12 | Jani Lakanen | 1:19:40 | +6:59 | 5:49 | ||
| 14 | Baptiste Rollier | 1:19:50 | +7:09 | 5:50 | ||
| 15 | Erik Liljequist | 1:19:58 | +7:17 | 5:50 | ||
| 16 | Matthias Merz | 1:20:26 | +7:45 | 5:52 | ||
| 17 | Pavlo Ushkvarok | 1:20:33 | +7:52 | 5:53 | ||
| 18 | William Lind | 1:20:54 | +8:13 | 5:54 | ||
| 19 | Janis Kums | 1:20:59 | +8:18 | 5:55 | ||
| 20 | Niclas Jonasson | 1:21:14 | +8:33 | 5:56 |
| 1 | Simone Niggli | 1:01:19 | 6:16 | |||
| 2 | Tove Alexandersson | 1:01:53 | +0:34 | 6:20 | ||
| 3 | Tanja Ryabkina | 1:04:37 | +3:18 | 6:36 | ||
| 4 | Lena Eliasson | 1:05:02 | +3:43 | 6:39 | ||
| 5 | Eva Jurenikova | 1:07:35 | +6:16 | 6:55 | ||
| 6 | Emma Johansson | 1:07:36 | +6:17 | 6:55 | ||
| 7 | Lina Strand | 1:08:52 | +7:33 | 7:02 | ||
| 8 | Nadiya Volynska | 1:08:59 | +7:40 | 7:03 | ||
| 9 | Maria Magnusson | 1:09:15 | +7:56 | 7:05 | ||
| 10 | Ida Bobach | 1:10:04 | +8:45 | 7:10 | ||
| 11 | Anna (Humlaröd) Persson | 1:10:11 | +8:52 | 7:11 | ||
| 12 | Anna Bachman | 1:10:52 | +9:33 | 7:15 | ||
| 13 | Lilian Forsgren | 1:11:22 | +10:03 | 7:18 | ||
| 14 | Anastasia Tikhonova | 1:11:28 | +10:09 | 7:18 | ||
| 15 | Karolin Ohlsson | 1:11:31 | +10:12 | 7:19 | ||
| 16 | Sara Eskilsson | 1:12:12 | +10:53 | 7:23 | ||
| 17 | Signe Söes | 1:12:32 | +11:13 | 7:25 | ||
| 18 | Johanna Öberg | 1:13:05 | +11:46 | 7:28 | ||
| 19 | Dana Brozkova | 1:13:52 | +12:33 | 7:33 | ||
| 20 | Ekaterina Nikitina | 1:14:17 | +12:58 | 7:36 |
Results Saturday
| 1 | Thierry Gueorgiou | 1:30:27 | 5:11 |  |
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| 2 | Fredrik Johansson | 1:31:55 | +1:28 | 5:16 | |
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| 3 | Oleksandr Kratov | 1:33:42 | +3:15 | 5:22 | |
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| 4 | Valentin Novikov | 1:34:04 | +3:37 | 5:23 | |
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| 5 | Johan Runesson | 1:34:24 | +3:57 | 5:24 | |
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| 6 | Gustav Bergman | 1:34:52 | +4:25 | 5:26 | |
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| 7 | Philippe Adamski | 1:36:20 | +5:53 | 5:31 | |
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| 8 | Anders Holmberg | 1:36:50 | +6:23 | 5:33 | |
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| 9 | Baptiste Rollier | 1:36:58 | +6:31 | 5:33 | |
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| 10 | Oskar Sjöberg | 1:37:17 | +6:50 | 5:34 | ||
| 11 | Filip Dahlgren | 1:37:22 | +6:55 | 5:34 | ||
| 12 | David Andersson | 1:37:52 | +7:25 | 5:36 | |
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| 13 | Matthias Merz | 1:38:05 | +7:38 | 5:37 | |
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| 14 | Matthias Kyburz | 1:38:20 | +7:53 | 5:38 | |
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| 15 | Marius Thrane Ødum | 1:38:36 | +8:09 | 5:39 | ||
| 16 | Olle Boström | 1:38:39 | +8:12 | 5:39 | |
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| 17 | Pavlo Ushkvarok | 1:38:42 | +8:15 | 5:39 | ||
| 18 | Jani Lakanen | 1:39:02 | +8:35 | 5:40 | |
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| 19 | Daniel Hubmann | 1:39:13 | +8:46 | 5:41 | |
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| 20 | Erik Rost | 1:39:15 | +8:48 | 5:41 | |
| 1 | Simone Niggli | 1:13:13 | 6:15 | |
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| 2 | Helena Jansson | 1:15:44 | +2:31 | 6:28 | |
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| 3 | Tanja Ryabkina | 1:16:00 | +2:47 | 6:29 | |
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| 4 | Eva Jurenikova | 1:17:32 | +4:19 | 6:37 | |
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| 5 | Lena Eliasson | 1:17:44 | +4:31 | 6:38 | |
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| 6 | Lina Strand | 1:18:42 | +5:29 | 6:43 | |
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| 7 | Ida Bobach | 1:19:31 | +6:18 | 6:47 | |
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| 8 | Tove Alexandersson | 1:19:38 | +6:25 | 6:48 | |
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| 9 | Nadiya Volynska | 1:20:14 | +7:01 | 6:51 | |
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| 10 | Helena Karlsson | 1:20:38 | +7:25 | 6:53 | |
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| 11 | Emma Klingenberg | 1:21:15 | +8:02 | 6:56 | |
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| 12 | Lilian Forsgren | 1:21:52 | +8:39 | 6:59 | |
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| 13 | Julia Novikova | 1:21:55 | +8:42 | 6:59 | ||
| 14 | Maria Magnusson | 1:21:59 | +8:46 | 7:00 | |
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| 15 | Irina Nyberg | 1:22:18 | +9:05 | 7:01 | ||
| 16 | Malin Leijon Lind | 1:22:31 | +9:18 | 7:02 | |
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| 17 | Anastasia Tikhonova | 1:22:40 | +9:27 | 7:03 | ||
| 18 | Linnea Gustafsson | 1:22:59 | +9:46 | 7:05 | ||
| 19 | Emma Johansson | 1:23:00 | +9:47 | 7:05 | |
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| 20 | Rasa Ptasekaite | 1:23:50 | +10:37 | 7:09 |
Great analysis
really enjoyed reading it. You are very welcome to write it for every race where hot guns meet :-))
Thank you,
Boris
Great analysis Jan,
really enjoyed reading it. You are very welcome to write it for every race where hot guns meet :-))
Thank you,
Boris
Thank you for this very complete review !