8th overall in Nordic Tour

The first week in June the Nordic Orienteering Tour was arranged with a total of 5 World Cup races in Norway, Sweden and Finland.

NORT-1 Sprint, Oslo
The first race was a sprint (without qualification) from Ammerud in Oslo on Saturday 1st June. I did a really bad route choice to the 3rd control, and lost almost 30 seconds. The rest of the race was OK. My result was a 27th place, far from what I had anticipated. Results, splits and GPS tracking.

NORT-2 Middle, Oslo
The following day it was a Middle distance from the same arena in Groruddalen in Oslo. Middle distance in stony and rough Norwegian terrain is not my best distance, but I hoped to do a stable performance. I did a bigger mistake to the 2nd control (40 seconds), and lost 10 - 20 seconds several other places. My result was a 31st place, not what I had aimed for. The Norwegian team did really well, with Carl Kaas winning and both Bjørn Ekeberg and Mari Fasting coming 3rd. Results, splits and GPS tracking.

NORT-3 Knock out sprint, Stockholm
Tuesday 4th June the tour continued in Stockholm with a Knock out sprint in Stigtuna. I have made an erlier news about that race, where I was very satisfied with finishing in 2nd position.

NORT-4 Sprint, Turku
The Tour then moved on to Turku in Finland, and Friday 7th June it was a Sprint. The Qual in the morning went OK, but I lost a about 10 seconds to both the 8th and 13th control because I had not been reading the map well enough before I left the control. My result was a 17th place, and I was qualified for the evenings Final. Results and splits.

The Final was more challenging, and I had problems getting a good flow in my orienteering. Physically I did not have my best day either, but the orienteering went OK at the beginning. To the 8th control I had not been reading the control description before I planed my route, and I started running to the right. When I realized the control was on the other side of the wall I turned and changed to the left route choice, loosing more then 20 seconds. (If i had continued on the right route choice it was actually some stairs in the wall, that was very difficult to see on the map in running speed.) The rest of the race was OK, but I continued loosing some time in running speed. My result was a 19th place, 1 min behind Matthias Kyburz. Results, splits and GPS tracking.

NORT-5 Long chasing start, Turku 
The Final was a Long distance chasing start, and I started as 15th runner, 7 min behind Matthias Kyburz. I had a gap in front of me, but as many as 10 runners within a minute behind me. I opened well, but did not find the best lines in the rough terrain between the 6th and 12th control, and when I had finished the forking I was caught up by many of the runners starting behind me.

The group kept a high speed, but I had a good flow in my orienteering and no problems taking the right control the few times it was forking. When we passed the arena the last time I was in the front of the group. To the 33rd control I and my club mate Filip Dahlgren came to much to the right (after bad compass work), and we were passed by several runners taking a left route choice. The rest of the course I tried to advance in the field, but it was strong runners in front of me, and I ended up finishing 3rd in the group.

My total position was 8th, 4 min behind Daniel Hubmann (who passed Kyburz in the end). In overall the Chasing start and the Knock out sprint made the tour quite successful for me, even if I also had some disappointing races. It is sad that it will be no Nordic Tour next year, but it will hopefully still be some new and exciting race formats in the future World Cup. Results, splits and GPS tracking.

On the NORT website you find a live page with links to results, GPS tracking and web TV from all races.