Wednesday, June 26, 2013

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.

Friday, June 14, 2013

2nd in World Cup Knock out sprint in Stockholm

Last week the Nordic Orienteering Tour was arranged with in total 5 World Cup races in Norway, Sweden and Finland. I will write a summary from the whole tour later, but will start with the Knock out sprint in Stockholm, where I did my best performance with a 2nd place.

The individual qualification in the morning went well. At the prewarning I was 6th, but after loosing some seconds in the end I finished in a 13th position. Results and splits.

My heat in the Semifinal was really strong, and knew I needed to to a strong performance to be one of the two runners who was automatically qualified for the final, but that it was also was a good chance that the 3rd and 4th runner would qualify as "lucky looser". In the forked butterfly in the beginning I took the lead in my group. IN the end of the butterfly Gustav Bergman passed me, and I decided to stay behind him since he was running well. Me and Jerker Lysell changes about having the 2nd and 3rd position, while the Swiss runners Fabian Hertner and Matthias Kyburz was behind. To the 2nd last control I was the only one taking the right route choice, and I was speeding up and managed to take over the lead just in front of the other runners (as you can see on the picture above). On the run in I let Gustav Bergman pass me, since I anyway would qualify for the final. Results, splits and GPS tracking.

In the Final I wanted to use the same tactic. Vojtech Kral took the command to the 2nd control, and I stayed behind him in 2nd position. Surprisingly the strong Swiss runners was again behind. To the 6th control I took over the lead, and found it was a good position to have during the forked part (with map exchange), since I then would not be distracted about where the others was running. I ran well, and was still in the lead. To the 12th control two other runners took the left route choice, and managed to catch 2 second to me, but I kept my lead. In the end of the races I just tried to keep a stable high speed, and run perfect technically so I could continue to stay in the front. It went well, but in the run in Fabian Hertner managed to pass with a few meters. It's a bit annoying to be so close to a World Cup victory, but I was really satisfied with  my performance, and this was the first time I was top 3 in a WC race sine 2007. Results, splits and GPS tracking.

A great TV production from the Semifinal and Final can be watched on SVT play. On the NORT website you find a live page with links to result, GPS tracking and web TV from all races.