On my way to World Games in Colombia

The coming weekend I'm going to compete in World Games in Cali in Colombia. World Games is a huge event with in total 4500 participants from 101 different nations competing in 31 different sports. It’s a sort of Olympic Games for Non Olympic Sports.

Together with the World Champs held in Finland some weeks ago World Games is the highlight of the season, and something I have been looking forward to for a long time. Since it's only arrange every 4th year, and that orienteering is part of such an huge event, I find it very special.

The program is as following:

• Friday 2nd August: Sprint
• Saturday 3rd August: Middle distance
• Sunday 4th August: Mixed Relay

Jakter medalje i Colombia, orientering.no

I have competed in World Games two times earlier, and it was a great experience both times.

World Games 2005 was held in Duisburg in Germany. It went really well for me and I finished 3rd in the Middle distance, beaten by Thierry Gueorgiou and Daniel Hubmann. In the relay I finished first on the first leg.

On my old homepage you can read more and find links to all the maps. As you can se on the pictures we were also on the Opening Ceremony and watching some other sports.

World Games 2009 was arranged in Kaohsiung in Taiwan. The Opening Ceremony was held in the new stadium build for the event, with a capacity of 55,000 people, and involved 4,000 performers

In the Sprint I got a 4th place, in the Middle distance I came 6th, and in the Relay I won a bronze medal together with Lars Skjeset, Mari Fasting and Elise Egseth (which also won bronze in the sprint).

On my old homepage you can find news with maps from the Sprint, Middle and Relay. Last week I also finally managed to upload my pictures from WG 2009 to Picasa.

At the moment I'm in Miami, where I have a one and a half day stop on my way to Colombia. I will try to update my blog with short reports from the races the coming weekend.

WOC in Vuokatti - analyze, maps and pictures

Last week the World Orienteering Championship was arranged in Vuokatti in Finland. I was selected to run the Sprint, and was also one of the candidates for the Relay team.

My training had gone well during the winter and spring, my shape had improved during the last month, and I had showed up some good results in June with a 2nd place in the World Cup sprint in Sigtuna and a 8th place overall in the Nordic Tour. I had therefore high ambitions, and hoped to finally be able to win a medal in my 10th WOC.

Sprint Qual, Vuokatti - 1st place
The Sprint Qualification was held in a holiday village with a lot of open park land. Last year in Lausanne I was one second from qualifying to the final, after doing an OK performance and being 43 sec behind the winner in my heat. Then I had been sick several weeks in the spring, and I know my shape was much better now. But still it's a lot of runners who can do well in a quite easy qualification course, and I would not do the same mistake this year. I wanted also to use the qualification race to perform in the same way as I had planed to to in the afternoons final.

The qualification course showed also this year out to be quite easy, and I could run quite straight on most of the legs. But it was a lot of hedges and other vegetation, all the houses looked the same, and it was also a few route choices that needed to be planed, so I still had to be really foucues the whole course. My running felt very easy, and in the end of the course I wondered if I should push harder.

Afterward I think I did a really solid qualification race, where I had a good plan for all legs and was running in a stable pace with good flow and no hesitation. I was surprised I was able to win the heat 2 with as much as 25 seconds, but that gave me a good feedback before the afternoons final! Results, splits and GPS tracking.

Sprint Final, Sotkamo - 7th place
The Final was held from the baseball stadium in Sotkamo, and it was a lot of spectators and a great atmosphere, simular to Trondheim 2010. The organizers had also used a lot for additional impassable fences that made to orienteering much more tricky.

I started as I had planed, but did not get the best flow in the first part of the course, and had problems picking my route choices with all the fences on the map. The last part of the course went better, and I was able to run more offensive. I managed to find good routes of most legs, but in total I lost aprox. 5 seconds 5 places because of hesitation or not taking the optimal route.

My result was a 7th place, 29 sec behind Mårten Boström, who did an impressively good performance. To the silver, won by Scott Fraser, it was 13 sec. I had hoped for a medal, and was a bit disappointed afterwards, since I have finished between 4th and 8th position several times before. But it's a lot of runners who aim for a top position, and I did quite well. In overall I'm quite satisfied with my performance, since I found the course very challenging, and I avoided any big mistakes. All the runners winning medals are good friends of me, and I visited Mårten one week when he worked on Zanzibar last winter. Results, splits and GPS tracking.

Relay, Vuokatti - 6th place
Before the WOC I know I was a candidate for the Relay team, but had not expected to be choose, since I hoped the runners doing the individual forest races should do well and have an advantage. Anyway I prepared as good as possible after the sprint, and had some good trainings in relevant terrain where I got a good feeling.

When I after the Midlde final was told that I was selected to run the 1st leg for the Norwegian team I felt it like an honor, and got quite excited, but also felt some pressure, since we had finished 2nd in the WOC relay the 3 last years, and had ambitions to fight for the victory.

To both the 1st and 3rd controls I lost a few seconds since I was not running optimal routes. I had the longest forking in the beginning, and at the 3rd control I was nr 16, 33 sec behind Switzerland. But I could see a lot of good runners in front of me, and was not stressed.

On the long leg I thought running to the right could be a good option, using the paths to avoid the green. But I didn't want to run alone, and followed all the others who went straight. On the end of the leg the runners I could see in front of me went too much to the left (to go to the other forkings), and Ukraine and I was the only runners who continued straight to my forking. At the 5th control I was nr 13, 48 sec behind Switzerland.

The rest of the course went really well, and I managed to pass a lot of teams (which had other forkings or did mistakes). At the next radio (7/8 on the map) I was 5th, and when I finished I was 2nd, 3 sec behind Switzerland, and with a 30 sec gap to the following teams. Results, my splits and GPS tracking.

Carl Kaas on our second lag did well in the beginning, and was alone in the lead on the first radio. But unfortunately he did not find the best route on the long leg, and did also some mistakes in the end of the leg. Magen Dæhli on our last leg did also some mistakes in the beginning and had problems on the long leg, but after a strong finish he came in as 6th team, 3 min behind Russia, and 2 min from a medal.

It was more forking then expected, and a surprisingly thigh relay. We did not run as good as we had planed as a team, and got the position we deserved. The Norwegian team did not win any individual medals for the first time in many years. But the spirit was still good in the team, and we got a perfect end of the championship since our girls team won the relay after running 3 really sold legs, exactly as you should do in a relay:-)

In my Picasa album you can find more than 300 pictures from the whole WOC week in Vuokatti.

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.

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.

NM Sprint in Skien and selection races

Saturday the Norwegian Championship in Sprint was arranged in Skien. The race was also selection race for Nordic Tour (World Cup) and World Games, and one of the highlights for me this year.

The Sprint Qualification in the morning went well, and I was fastest in heat 1 after solid race. Results, splits and map

The Final was held the same evening. I did a really good technical performance, and think I took the best route choice on all major legs. My result was a 2nd place, 10 sec behind Emil Wingstedt. I had a bit slow start and lost some seconds on the longer legs in the first half of the course, but was fastest in the last part of the course. Results, splits, map and GPS tracking 

Skien was a great place for sprint orienteering, and the event was well organized in all ways. The map made by Helge Gisholt was perfect and easy to read in high speed, and the courses challenging and fair. This shows that it's not a problem to make good sprint races if you have experienced map makers and course planers. I hope my club Wing OK will do the same when they organize NM Sprint in Trondheim next year.

News from orientering.no:
Jakter Kongepokal i Skien sentrum
- Dette er noe jeg kan sette frem i stuen
Norgescuplister sammenlagt, resultater og statistikk

The previous week has been though, with both selection races in Long and Middle distance on Hedemarken and a short training camp with the National Team on Vikersund before NM Sprint. The Long distance went OK, and I finished 8th, 5 min behind Magne Dæhli. (Results, splits and map with GPS tracking) In the Middle I was 12th, 3 min behind Anders Nordberg. (Results, splits and map with GPS tracking)

UPDATE:
This evening it was published that I'm selected to both Nordic Tour (World Cup) in June and World Games in Colombia in August:
Uttak Nordic Tour
- Knallsterkt lag til World Games

The Run and Centrum Team Sprint

Tuesday I competed in the cross country race The Run organized on Norra Djurgården in Stockholm. I did the 10 km, and ran a 5 km loop two times. It was not any other really good runners in the start field, and I was running alone in the lead most of the race, trying to keep a steady speed. My winning time was 35.47. The course was really nice, and I recommend other people to participate next year, or in one of the other The Run races held in Sweden later this years.

Yesterday I competed in Centrum Team Sprint on Skansen in Stockholm. I was in team with Nick Simonin, and we did 2 lags each. Nick did the first and third leg, and I the second and last leg. It was a really strong start field, with a lot of good runners, and a nice race format.

The second leg was inside the open air museum and zoo on Skansen. It was really cool to run there, and the map was very detailed. It was a lot of controls, and both longer route choice legs and many micro route choices. My orienteering went OK, but I felt a bit tired in my legs after The Run the previous day.

The last leg was in forest on Södra Djurgården, just outside Skansen. The east part was nice for a forest sprint, but many of the legs was very simple, and a bit boring. Again I was pleased with my performance.

Anders Holmberg and Olle Boström from Järla won the relay. Nick and I finished as 6th team, but was unfortunately disqualified because Nick skipped a control on Skansen. We will come back stronger next time! Annica Gustafsson and Helena Karlsson from IFK Lidingö won the women's class. Results

DM Sprint and Silva League in Örebro

Last week I was running 3 races, in addition to much training. In total I did 15 sessions with running, so it was a hard week for me.

Tuesday it was the District Championship in Sprint in Stockholm. I did a good performance, except the route choice to the 7th control, where I lost 15 sec. My result was a 4th place, 21 sec behind Yannick Michiels.

Thursday it was a Silva League Sprint in Kumla, south of Örebro. My performance was quite good, I but lost 5 sec to the 3rd, 10th and 14th control. My result was a 8th place, 32 sec behind Jonas Leandersson. The start field was very international, with 7 nationalities among the 8 best runners!

Saturday it was a Silva League Middle distance in Kilsbergen, north west of Örebro. I did no big mistakes, but lost 15 - 30 sec to several controls, and had big problems running fast in the parts of the terrain with stony ground. My result was a 30th place, 4 min behind Gustav Bergman.

Sunday it was a Long distance in Kilsbergen. I was not entered this race, because I thought 3 races was enough in a week, and wanted to do a long easy run. My team mates in IFK Lidingö Fredrik Johansson and Filip Dahlgren did really well, and came 2nd and 3rd, only beaten by Thierry Gueorgiou.

Physical I was a bit tired on the races after a though training week, and was not really able to speed up on the longer legs. This week I will train less, so I'm in better shape to the Norwegian selection races in Long and Middle the coming weekend. But I will still do some harder sessions, competing in the 10 km cross country race The Run on Norra Djurgården tonight and Centrum Team Sprint on Skansen and Södra Djurgården tomorrow.