[Maps & Results from Stage 1 now out] Some of the world’s best sprint orienteers are gathered in China for the PWT China Tour 2017 this week. The PWT China tour consists of 5 races, of them 2 WRE sprint races.

The first stage was won by Robert Merl (Austria) and Maija Sianoja (Finland) – see results below and first part of the map above (see also report stage 1).

See more, including maps and results, at the PWT webpage.

Program for the PWT China tour.

• 24th October: PWT Race 1: Sprint, Red Temple, Huairou
• 27th October: PWT Race 2 (WRE): Middle, Forest Park of Green Dragon Lake
• 29th October: PWT Race 3 & Beijing Students Orienteering Championships: Sprint, Green Dragon Lake
• 30th October: PWT Race 4 (WRE): Sprint, Old Summer Palace
• 31st October: PWT Race 5 & China Open: Sprint, Linqigu, Langfang

Results stage 1

Men

1 Robert Merl ME Austria 0:14:25 2 Gernot Kerschbaumer ME Austria 0:14:36 3 Jonas Vytautas Gvildys ME Lithuania 0:15:13 4 Oystein Kvaal Osterbo ME Norway 0:15:17 5 Tim Robertson ME New Zealand 0:15:22 6 Marten Bostrom ME Finland 0:15:28 7 Frédéric Tranchand ME France 0:15:33 8 Adrien Delenne ME France 0:15:36 9 Quentin Rauturier ME France 0:15:41 10 Chris Smithard ME Greai Britain 0:15:45

Women

1 Maija Sianoja WE Finland 0:16:24 2 Laura Robertson WE New Zealand 0:16:48 3 Marika Teini WE Finland 0:17:09 4 Matleena Bostrom WE Finland 0:17:35 5 Carlotta Scalet WE Italy 0:17:40 6 Anna Simkovics WE Austria 0:18:10 7 Elin Carlsson WE Sweden 0:18:22 8 Kristine Fjellanger WE Norway 0:18:32 9 Lone Brochmann WE Norway 0:18:41

Happy to start PWT China with a 4th place in today's Sprint north of Beijing. Sick last week, and finaly well again. https://t.co/wZrtKoLD3M pic.twitter.com/x6209817ri

— Øystein K. Østerbø (@Kvaal_Osterbo) October 24, 2017

The nice course at the World Cup  Sprint in Lohja (Finland) deserves some analysis. There were several legs were significant parts of the field took a slower choice as you can see in the leg-by-leg GPS-analysis below. An excellent example of how a  good modern sprint course can be made in flat terrain.

Green means fast – red means slow. An example of one of the most decisive legs is shown above – the leg to the 17th control. Looking at this specific leg, you lose 6-8 seconds by running left – even though the length difference is marginal. The reason for the time loss must lie in the extra corners and more complex running.

Here is also a comparison Kyburz vs Michiels (from official split times):

Michiels goes into two of the course setters traps – to the third control were he loses around 5-6 seconds due to routechoice and to the 8th control were he loses 3-4 seconds due to routechoice. His speed is however slightly higher than Kyburz’s, giving him the victory in the end.

Here is also a splits comparison of the top athletes. Kyburz and Michiels are in a separate league:

Leg-by-leg routes

Below routes for all legs in the men’s course are shown with routes with correct split times. Split times shown are official split times (note that there are some entries in the split times which are not correct, these are not included in the analysis below).  No full analysis is provided, but these illustrations should provide good training in understanding the challenges in modern sprint courses.

Helena Jansson decided the first race in the World Cup Sprint Relay 2017 for Sweden in a close fight with Denmark’s Maja Alm. Alm was later disqualified due to a miss-punch, and Switzerland’s Elena Roos did thus lead Switzerland in to second place 13 seconds behind with Great Britain in third one minute behind.

Sweden ran an excellent relay – and managed to keep the other teams behind all the way until the end. Denmark’s Maja Alm got a perfect chasing position, and it looked like she would manage to catch and pass Jansson until the very end. A combination of a somewhat longer forking towards the end of the race and the chase of Jansson earlier on the course took that extra energy out of Alm, and thus Jansson could beat the fast Danish woman in a one-to-one fight – a very positive experience to bring to the World Championships in Estonia in one month’s time.

Switzerland was in the fight for the victory until the middle of the last leg, but Roos could not fully keep up with the speed of Jansson and Alm. Tessa Strain did a good race for Great Britain on the last leg, bringing them in to third position, but the gap up to the three teams in front was too big already from the start.

Helena Jansson

» Runner profile at runners.worldofo.com

Maja Alm

» Runner profile at runners.worldofo.com

Elena Roos

» Runner profile at runners.worldofo.com

Maps and GPS-tracking

World Cup Sprint Relay 1st leg

» See map in omaps.worldofo.com

World Cup Sprint Relay 2nd leg

» See map in omaps.worldofo.com

World Cup Sprint Relay 3rd leg

» See map in omaps.worldofo.com

World Cup Sprint Relay 4th leg

» See map in omaps.worldofo.com

Results

1	3		Sweden				53:15
		1 Karolin Ohlsson					13:28
		2 Emil Svensk		13:06			26:35
		3 Jonas Leandersson		13:18			39:54
		4 Helena Jansson		13:20			53:15
2	1		Switzerland				53:28
		1 Sabine Hauswirth					13:28
		2 Florian Howald		13:09			26:38
		3 Martin Hubmann		13:18			39:56
		4 Elena Roos		13:32			53:28
3	8		Great Britain				54:28
		1 Catherine Taylor					13:30
		2 Peter Hodkinson		13:28			26:58
		3 Ralph Street		13:30			40:29
		4 Tessa Strain		13:59			54:28
4	4		Russia				54:34
		1 Anastasia Rudnaya					13:31
		2 Dmitry Tsvetkov		13:30			27:02
		3 Andrey Khramov		13:35			40:37
		4 Galina Vinogradova		13:57			54:34
5	24		Finland 2				54:54
		1 Sari Anttonen					13:46
		2 Marten B Bostrom		13:28			27:15
		3 Otto Simosas		13:34			40:49
		4 Merja Rantanen		14:04			54:54
6	5		Norway				55:41
		1 Nikoline Ekeberg Schjerve					14:31
		2 Jon Aukrust Osmoen		13:22			27:53
		3 Hakon Jarvis Westergard		13:29			41:23
		4 Ida Marie Naess Bjoergul		14:17			55:41
7	7		Czech Republic				55:48
		1 Tereza Janosikova					14:24
		2 Jan Petrzela		13:46			28:11
		3 Vojtech Kral		13:10			41:22
		4 Adela Indrakova		14:26			55:48
8	20		Denmark 2				55:49
		1 Ida Bobach					13:31
		2 Soeren Schwartz		13:28			26:59
		3 Magnus Dewett		13:56			40:55
		4 Caroline Gjotterup		14:53			55:49
9	10		Austria				56:51
		1 Laura Ramstein					15:01
		2 Robert Merl		13:49			28:51
		3 Matthias Reiner		13:50			42:41
		4 Ursula Kadan		14:09			56:51
10	9		France				57:25
		1 Amelie Chataing					15:00
		2 Lucas Basset		13:40			28:40
		3 Adrien Delenne		13:44			42:24
		4 Isia Basset		15:00			57:25

• Official results available here – see also results with all teams

[With GPS-tracking and live results] More than 300 top orienteers come to South-Estonia to compete for their place in national teams with Sprint Friday, Middle Saturday and Long Sunday. 

Many nations participate with their national teams in this competition, including Norway, Finland, Switzerland, Lavtia, Germany, Estonia, Belarus, Ireland, Denmark, France, Ukraine and UK. Most nations also use the races as selection races. Sweden will have their selection races next weekend in the same area.

Links

• Online results (sprint and middle)
• GPS tracking
  • Middle: Men; Women (map opens 13:45 CET, Saturday)
  • Long: Men; Women (map opens 11:30 CET, Sunday)
  • No GPS-tracking for sprint
• Start lists
• Facebook page of WOC 2017 will give some coverage 
• WOC 2017 webpage (info-page for the training camp / events)
• Bulletin and information

Program and old maps

• May 12: sprint in Põlva town (map 1:4000/h=2.5m). EMIT test OLD MAP
• May 13: middle distance in Voorepalu (map 1:10 000/h=2.5m) OLD MAP
• May 14: long distance in Kütiorg (map 1:15 000/h=5m) OLD MAP