World of O News
Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) and Matthias Kyburz (Switzerland) – both the silver medalists from the Long distance – took the Gold medals at the World Orienteering Championships (WOC) Middle distance 2023 in Flims Laax, Switzerland.
In the women’s class Natalia Gemperle (Switzerland) took silver and Hanna Lundberg (Sweden) bronze. In the men’s class Swiss Joey Hadorn was closest to Kyburz – as much as 2 minutes behind. Today’s big, positive surprise was Austria’s Jannis Bonek in third!
Women: Alexandersson hungry for Gold
Alexandersson did a one minute mistake already to the first control, but the Swede was hungry for Gold and had an impressive speed. Gemperle did even more mistakes in the start, and got caught by Gemperle already at the 4th control, and was with Alexandersson for most of the remainder of the race. Ane Dyrkorn (Norway, 4th place) and Andrine Benjaminsen (Norway, 5th place) ran very good technical races, but did not have the speed of the top finishers. Venla Harju (Finland) finished 6th after some mistakes at the start.
Men: Fantastic race by Kyburz
In the men’s class Matthias Kyburz ran a near perfect race from start to finish, taking the lead from the start and increasing it control by control. He caught up with Albin Ridefelt (Sweden, 4th place) already at the 7th control, and they were together until the second last control were Ridefelt did a mistake and lost a medal. Gustav Bergman (Sweden, 5th place) ran a medal race until the third last control, but the physically hard last few controls cost Bergman the possibility for a medal. Olli Ojanaho (Finland, 6th place) ran a very good race – with an exceptionally strong finish in the physical part in the end – but a one minute mistake at the 14th control cost him a medal.
Maps and GPS-tracking
Results
Women
| 1 | Tove Alexandersson | Sweden | 37:26 | 7:47 | |
| 2 | Natalia Gemperle | Switzerland | 39:44 | +2:18 | 8:16 |
| 3 | Hanna Lundberg | Sweden | 40:00 | +2:34 | 8:20 |
| 4 | Ane Dyrkorn | Norway | 41:49 | +4:23 | 8:42 |
| 5 | Andrine Benjaminsen | Norway | 42:01 | +4:35 | 8:45 |
| 6 | Venla Harju | Finland | 43:11 | +5:45 | 8:59 |
| 7 | Sandra Grosberga | Latvia | 43:14 | +5:48 | 9:00 |
| 8 | Tereza Janosikova | Czech Republic | 43:46 | +6:20 | 9:07 |
| 9 | Sara Hagstrom | Sweden | 44:11 | +6:45 | 9:12 |
| 10 | Evely Kaasiku | Estonia | 44:48 | +7:22 | 9:20 |
| 11 | Vendula Horcickova | Czech Republic | 45:28 | +8:02 | 9:28 |
| 12 | Megan Carter Davies | Great Britain | 45:32 | +8:06 | 9:29 |
| 13 | Simona Aebersold | Switzerland | 46:01 | +8:35 | 9:35 |
| 14 | Aleksandra Hornik | Poland | 46:37 | +9:11 | 9:42 |
| 15 | Jasmina Gassner | Austria | 46:40 | +9:14 | 9:43 |
| 16 | Cecilie Friberg Klysner | Denmark | 46:58 | +9:32 | 9:47 |
| 17 | Miri Thrane Oedum | Denmark | 47:24 | +9:58 | 9:52 |
| 18 | Sabine Hauswirth | Switzerland | 47:43 | +10:17 | 9:56 |
| 19 | Sanna Fast | Sweden | 47:44 | +10:18 | 9:56 |
| 20 | Kirsi Nurmi | Finland | 47:48 | +10:22 | 9:57 |
Men
| 1 | Matthias Kyburz | Switzerland | 38:19 | 6:29 | |
| 2 | Joey Hadorn | Switzerland | 40:19 | +2:00 | 6:49 |
| 3 | Jannis Bonek | Austria | 40:26 | +2:07 | 6:51 |
| 4 | Albin Ridefelt | Sweden | 40:51 | +2:32 | 6:55 |
| 5 | Gustav Bergman | Sweden | 40:59 | +2:40 | 6:56 |
| 6 | Olli Ojanaho | Finland | 41:03 | +2:44 | 6:57 |
| 7 | Kasper Harlem Fosser | Norway | 41:43 | +3:24 | 7:04 |
| 8 | Eskil Kinneberg | Norway | 41:50 | +3:31 | 7:05 |
| 9 | Lucas Basset | France | 41:54 | +3:35 | 7:06 |
| 10 | Emil Svensk | Sweden | 42:16 | +3:57 | 7:09 |
| 11 | Gaute Steiwer | Norway | 42:59 | +4:40 | 7:17 |
| 12 | Anton Johansson | Sweden | 43:17 | +4:58 | 7:20 |
| 13 | Ruslan Glibov | Ukraine | 43:37 | +5:18 | 7:23 |
| 14 | Florian Howald | Switzerland | 43:55 | +5:36 | 7:26 |
| 15 | Soren Thrane Odum | Denmark | 44:00 | +5:41 | 7:27 |
| 16 | Miika Kirmula | Finland | 44:02 | +5:43 | 7:27 |
| 17 | Tomas Krivda | Czech Republic | 44:14 | +5:55 | 7:29 |
| 18 | Bojan Blumenstein | Germany | 46:14 | +7:55 | 7:50 |
| 19 | Gernot Ymsen | Austria | 46:15 | +7:56 | 7:50 |
| 20 | Vegard Jarvis Westergard | Canada | 46:28 | +8:09 | 7:52 |
Only 2 women under 40mins, and just 1 man.
Running 45mins is 11th in women and 18th in men.
Both courses are around ~5mins too long for the winner.
@Mark: I asked one of the course setters about the women’s course, and got the answer that Tove would have been down there without mistakes (which is correct), and the usual “where to cut?”. I do agree that with the chosen concept with the same finish for all three races, it would have been tricky to not compromise qualify for the women’s course when cutting… But still, a bit too long. And the men’s, it would have been possible to cut.
I always enjoy your analysis. Here you don’t analyse 12 & 13 on the W course, (or those legs on the mens) so when you ask “where to cut” that seems to be part of the answer. It is so interesting how the mistakes come later when the runners are tired and pushing for te finish, even though it looks easier.